Fiona Kearney

Fiona Kearney is the founding Director of the Glucksman, a purpose-built contemporary art museum on the campus of University College Cork (UCC). The Glucksman has won numerous awards for its architecture and creative programmes, most recently winner of the 2022 European Art Museum award which recognises the social impact of museums and art galleries.

Fiona received a double first class honours in French and Philosophy from University College Cork and went on to graduate first in her class at Trinity College Dublin with an MPhil in text and image studies. From 1996–2001 she was lecturer in philosophy of art at the Crawford College of Art and Design. Throughout her academic and professional career, Fiona has received several distinguished awards including the designation of college scholar by UCC, bursary awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, the NUI Prix d'Honneur from the French Government and a UCC President’s Award for Research on Innovative Forms of Teaching. She was the first recipient of the Jerome Hynes Fellowship on the Clore Leadership Programme and is a graduate of the Getty Museum Leadership Institute at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. She has served as a member of the Arts Council of Ireland, where she chaired the policy and strategy committee. She is an assessor on the Museum Standards Programme of Ireland, and was previously a board member of the Irish Architecture Foundation, Corcadorca Theatre Company and VISUAL Carlow. She currently serves on the board of Cork Midsummer Festival and Cork Chamber. She is a member of the Irish Museums Association, ICOM, IKT, Universeum and AICA.