Dr Kathleen Turner (She/Her) is a singer, songwriter and Community Musician. She is based at the University of Limerick, where she is Course Director of MA Community Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Kathleen is a fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme, and was the recipient of the Jerome Hynes Fellowship 2017/18 supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. She completed her PhD in Arts Practice at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick in 2017. She also holds two Masters Degrees, MA Community Music and MA Ritual Chant and Song, and a BA (Hons) in English and Politics from the University of Stirling. 

From 2008-2014, Kathleen was Community Engagement Manager for the Irish Chamber Orchestra, designing and implementing a number of projects that bring live music into the community. This included ‘Sing Out with Strings,’ a Community Music programme with children and young people living in Limerick City, Ireland. Sing Out provides 300 children annually with free access to singing, songwriting and instrumental tuition.  Kathleen’s research interests are focused on Community Music, social ‘change’, autoethnography and narrative inquiry and their intersections with music and song. 

Photo credit: Maurice Gunning