Professor Tess Maginess, project director and facilitator (creative writing)

Professor Tess Maginess studied literature at Trinity College, Dublin (BA), Queen’s University, Belfast (MA) and York University, Toronto (PhD). She worked in community and rural development, arts and journalism before joining Queen’s in 1995. She is Director of the Open Learning programme. Tess has pioneered innovative adult education programmes, often using arts-based approaches. She has published on literature, adult education, mental health, older people’s wellbeing, environmental health humanities and medical humanities. She is also a published poet. She lives on the Armagh Tyrone border, where she was born, with her husband, Ian and dog, Khal.

Dr Federica Ferrieri, project coordinator and website designer

Dr Federica Ferrieri is Venetian, but has lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, since 2010 after spending periods of time in Greece and the Netherlands. With a PhD in Foreign Languages and Literatures, she has worked as a teacher of ancient and modern languages (Queen's University, Crescent Arts Centre, Linenhall Library) for the past 10 years and is the author of several language manuals and dictionaries. Being a qualified life coach and NLP practitioner, she is also busy organising and coordinating cultural projects that include elements of language learning, coaching, restorative justice, literature and drama. She has been the Honorary Consul of Italy in Northern Ireland since 2016 and the vice-president of the Consular Association of NI (CA-NI) since 2023. She is currently employed in Queen's University as a Civic Engagement Officer in Public Engagement. 

Louise McIvor, project facilitator (creative writing)

Louise McIvor BA (Hons), FHEA has a degree in English from Leeds University and a Certificate in Periodical Journalism for Graduates from The London College of Printing (now the London College of Communication). Louise worked as a secretary at Vogue magazine and Imperial College, London. On returning to Northern Ireland, Louise worked in a variety of firms before joining The News Letter as an advertising features writer and later sub-editor.Louise always loved writing fiction and completed a module in Advanced Creative Writing through the Open University in 2008. Her first story in The People’s Friend magazine was published in 2011 and she has been writing for ‘The Friend’ ever since. Louise has been teaching Creative Writing for Open Learning at Queen’s University, Belfast (School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work) since 2012. In 2018, Louise was made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). In 2019, Louise also started to teach Literature for Open Learning.Louise loves helping other writers to tell their stories.

Karen Kinghan, project facilitator (videography)

Karen Kinghan is based in Belfast and has been working in film and film education for 20 years.Her community filmmaking projects explore sensitive issues and have worked to bridge divides, taking her from Ireland to other European countries and as far as the US where she worked as a feature film editor.She has been producer on a number of short films through NI Screen, acting in a number of shorts and in two independent feature films herself. As a film trainer and facilitator she works for organisations such as the BFI Film Academy, Nerve Centre and Into Film, where she co-ordinates and delivers hands-on filmmaking programmes.

Asma Niazi, project evaluator

Asma Niazi moved to Belfast from Pakistan in 2014 and read in Med Educational Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. She has done her bachelor's equivalent qualification from Pakistan in English Language Teaching, Politics and Persian. Currently, she is finishing her MA in Anthropology.

She has worked as a co-researcher on a project with the Queen’s Open Learning programme and as a facilitator on a Photovoice project, ‘Images of Incoming’. She has also contributed to the Queen’s Open Learning programme and volunteered to teach older learners basic digital skills.

Dr Jonathan Paul Mitchell, project evaluator

Dr Jonathan Paul Mitchell is the Access and Inclusion Manager at University of Atypical for Arts and Disability, where he oversees Northern Ireland-wide programmes to make the arts and culture sector more accessible and welcoming to disabled people.

He also is a researcher with numerous publications on critical disability studies and philosophy of disability.