About Us

Prof 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

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 mainly works as a teacher of ancient and modern languages (Queen's University, Crescent Arts Centre, Linenhall Library) 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.

(she, her, hers) is an Assistant Professor in Adult Education at the University of the Fraser Valley and worked in the settlement sector for many years in Vancouver. She holds an EdD from the Department of Educational Studies at UBC. Her doctorate explored ways to make government-funded language training more inclusive for students who have experienced trauma. She has facilitated numerous workshops on trauma-informed practices for settlement and language providers both provincially and nationally. Her most recent writing collaboration, The power of narrative storytelling: How podcasts as an arts-based practice enhance solidarity and social activism in adult education was published in Studies in the Education of Adults.

(she, her, hers) is an Assistant Professor in Social Work and Human Services at the University of the Fraser Valley. Brianna has worked in a variety of clinical, community-based, and administrative social work positions and has taught since 2011. Brianna has experience in both government and nongovernmental organizations in Canada, England, Jamaica, India, and South Africa in the areas of community-engaged research, child protection, youth employment, foster care, health care, poverty reduction, and community development. Her scholarship interests include reflective practice, women and social policy, and social work education - particularly the advancement of higher education through trauma-informed, feminist, and arts-based pedagogies.

(she, her, hers) is a sessional instructor in Adult Education at the University of the Fraser Valley and faculty at Vancouver Community College. Tanis has worked with migrants in various capacities for over 30 years. Tanis has a PhD in Languages, Cultures and Literacies in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her doctorate work used arts-informed research to better understand an employment program for women with refugee and immigrant experience. her career focuses on literacy, EAL and adult education particularly relating to employment. Tanis is a potter.