Dr Tess Maginess

National Teaching Fellow 2013 Dr Tess Maginess was born on a small farm in Northern Ireland. She was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA, Hons English), Queen's University, Belfast (MA, Anglo-Irish Literature) and York University, Toronto (PhD, English). She worked in journalism, community and rural development work and the arts before joining Queen's University, Belfast in 1995 where her first role was to develop a wide range of education in the community programmes with holistic models of student support for mature students, especially those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. Tess was later appointed as Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Education, responsible for the adult education Open Learning Programme. Under her leadership, the programme developed and expanded with a strong emphasis on education in the community learning projects with marginalised groups, focusing on priority issues such as conflict resolution and mental health. The team received a Queen's teaching award and was nominated for the prestigious Times Higher Education Awards. Tess also won the national BERA-SAGE research practitioner award for her work in pioneering inclusive and dynamic action research teaching with 'hard to reach' learners. Tess has attracted substantial funding to Queen's over the years including grants from the HEA, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Rural Community Network and the Southern Health Board. Now, as Director of Undergraduate programmes in the School of Education, she designs new BA modules, teaches and also co-ordinates undergraduate provision in the School. Her pastoral role includes disability. Tess also supervises Masters' dissertation students and is Chair of the Learning and Teaching committee. Tess has drawn on her teaching to publish research in international peer-reviewed journals such as The European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults (RELA) and European Academic Research (EAR), and in the book, Art of Poetic Inquiry. She has presented papers at many international conferences. She has published one collection of poetry, Vivarium, and her second collection, Arpeggio, is due out later this year. She is Chair of the Nerve Centre in Derry, a dynamic multimedia organisation making a substantial contribution to the City of Culture.