Kay Taaffe

Background

About Kay Taaffe

Appointed to the role of School Manager at UCC School of Law in August 2019, Kay leads a committed professional team in the delivery of the School’s academic mission. With 826 student FTEs and 70 staff (academic, professional and associate), this dynamic School is currently ranked in the top 100 Law Schools in the world (QS Rankings 2021) and is proud to hold an Athena SWAN Bronze Award in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality. Previously, as Quality Enhancement Advisor at UCC, her role involved providing advice, support and guidance on all aspects of periodic quality review to academic, research and support units across the university. A music graduate, Kay completed an M.Ed and MA at UCC, and a Doctorate in Education from King's College London. Her doctoral thesis on “Key Signature Pedagogy” examined the distinctive pedagogy, assessment, values and dispositions inherent in instrumental music teaching and learning in Ireland. Kay’s initial professional experience was at the Cork School of Music. She was a founding member and Director of Cork City Music College and Music Outreach Network. More recently, as Development Manager at the LSMD, Griffith College Dublin, she led programme development in Music Education, Drama Education and Music Production. She was Director of Academic Affairs at SNMCI from 2012 to 2015. Passionate about links between scholarship, research and praxis, she has undertaken and supervised research in music education, arts education, Early Childhood Studies and Inclusive Education. Other interests include everything Italian (language, literature and film) – having lived and worked in Emilia Romagna. Sample Papers and Conferences: O’Sullivan-Taaffe, K.(March 2015) “It’s simply not cool!” A teenager’s account of participating in, and dropping out of, instrumental lessons. Irish Narrative Enquiry Conference: NUIM. O’Sullivan-Taaffe, K.(2014) Trilogies, Quartets and Magic Flutes: Pasolini’s Use of Mozart’s Masonic Music. UCC: The 2nd International Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media Conference. Donnellan, A. & O’Sullivan, K.(2009) Creating an Engaging Learning Environment for Engineers through the Mozart Effect and Problem Based Learning. Proceedings of the International Conference for Engaging Pedagogy.