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Ali FitzGibbon

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Ali FitzGibbon

Dr

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4534-8022

  • Room 02.004 - 21 University Square

    United Kingdom

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Interested applicants should first contact Dr FitzGibbon with a draft proposal BEFORE using the application portal. Please allow 3 - 6 months before any studentship deadlines to ensure a good fit and excellent proposal. Proposals in the broad field of arts management and cultural policy are welcome but research projects exploring the following themes are particularly encouraged:
- Concerns of sustainability and climate crisis as they relate to the arts and cultural industries or cultural economy
- Concerns of business, managerial or leadership ethics in all fields of arts and culture but particularly in live events, festivals and performing arts
- the role or circumstance of artists and creative freelancers in the arts and cultural industries or cultural economy
- projects focused on decision-making, leadership, change management and succession planning in the management of all forms of arts and cultural organisations and businesses but particularly in performing arts and live events/festivals
- projects exploring the intersections of public policy, cultural leadership and management

Applied or collaborative research approaches; methodologies with strong alignments to knowledge transfer and or policy impact.

1995 …2026

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research Focus

Ali's research focuses on decision-making and the ethics and ecologies of contemporary cultural production. particularly performing arts and freelancers/artists. This work draws together scholarship in leadership, management, business and managerial ethics to inform and shape contemporary scholarship in arts management, cultural policy and cultural labour. 

She has 25+ years of experience in the international arts and cultural sector and a substantial portfolio of experience working as a programmer and producer at community, national and international level in theatre, festivals, outdoor and youth arts. She has worked regularly in policy advisory work and consultancy on concerns of equality, sustainability, leadership, creative development and planning in the arts and cultural sector. She has also engaged in advisory work with voluntary, social enterprise and community sectors. Her doctoral research (2015 - 2018) on the artist as stakeholder was shortlisted for the 2020 ENCATC Research Award. 

Current projects:

Co-Director: Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland

Editorial Board member: Irish Journal of Arts Management & Cultural Policy

Creativity Theme Lead/Co-Investigator: FORESIGHTERS (Future ORiEnted Skills & Innovation for Governance for Health, Technology, EneRgy, citieS, and creativity); co-funded by the European Union

Previous projects:

Co-Editor: Cultural Policy: Perspectives on the island of Ireland, Routledge (2025)

Co-Investigator: Freelancers in the Dark

Co-Investigator: Future Screens NI part of the UK Creative Industries Clusters Programme.

Research Interests

Cultural Labour (precarity, inequality) and the role of the artist; Cultural sustainability, ethics, stakeholder management and organisational decision-making in arts and cultural industries management and production; arts & CCI management studies (non-profit and social enterprise); Cultural leadership; themes of cultural policy-making with specific reference to festivals, youth arts & role of the artist; inter/transdisciplinarity

Teaching

Ali has been a lecturer on the MA in Arts Management at Queen’s University Belfast since its inception in 2012, joining the School as a fulltime staff member in 2019. She has held roles of MA Convenor (2019 - 2023) and Subject Lead for Arts Management & Cultural Policy (2019 - 2023).

Her contribution spans teaching and convening a number of elements of the MA in Arts Management specific to leadership, management, strategic and business planning, business models and operational management. This has included bringing her research attenion on ethics and sustainability into consideration in these core topics. She contributes to teaching in audience engagement and is responsible for the programme's professional development/placement component. Her undergraduate teaching includes an interdisciplinary module: Introduction to Arts Management and contributions to professional development programmes for final year AEL undergraduate students. 

Ali has also been a Guest Lecturer for a range of programmes including the MA in Creative Enterprise at University of Leeds; the MA in Festive Arts at University of Limerick, the MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at University College Dublin, Theatre Studies (undergraduate) programme for University of North Carolina; Entertainment and Music Business (undergraduate) programme for Belmont University.

Achievements

Ali held the role of Director of Internationalisation & Student Growth for the School of Arts, English & Languages from 2023 - 2026.

 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
    SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
  2. SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
    SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
  3. SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
    SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
  4. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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