Frances Morton's OpenLearn Profile

Frances is the Policy and Public Affairs Senior Manager at The Open University in Ireland. She managed and curated the 'Reflections on the Good Friday Agreement' video project, interviewing allparticipants and contributing to the final production. She represents the University at the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Houses of the Oireachtas, managing and implementing the advocacy, influencing and engagement strategy on a range of part-time policy issues. She also manages a range of external communications for The Open University in Ireland, including press, web, social media and stakeholder relations. Frances graduated with a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Bristol in 2005. Her BA (Hons) in 2000 won the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers UK undergraduate dissertation prize, which led her to gain a Master of Research in 2001 (both from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow). She was previously Head of Scottish Music (Acting) at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as well as having lectured in Human Geography at Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Bristol. She has also worked with the Quality Assurance AgencyScotland managing a portfolio of national development and enhancement projects relating to learning, teaching and research in higher education in Scotland, and established a European working group for the recognition of prior learning. Frances has presented her research at international conferences and published in internationally peer-reviewed journals and books, is a reviewer for four major international geographical journals and was commissioned to write several articles for publication. She is a member of the Northern Ireland Science Festival Board and the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas Steering Committee. Frances previously worked on a research project funded by PEACE III called ‘The Peace Process: Layers of Meaning’ where she undertook interviews documenting the recollections and views of key figures in the peace process as part of a PEACE III project. The interviews were drawn from Ireland, north and south, as well as the UK, the USA and elsewhere. Outside of work Frances is a musician and has won several world championship titles in traditional music in addition to recording, performing and teaching , and undertaking voluntary work to promote music for several traditional arts organisations in Scotland and Ireland. She has been a Judge on BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year and was an Artistic Assessor for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland 2013-17. She writes for The Living Tradition magazine and is on the Editorial Board of ‘Interface’ journal. She currently teaches Irish at,and is a Board Member of Cumann Cultúrtha Mhic Reachtain – an Irish language development and arts organisation in north Belfast. Frances is the Policy and Public Affairs Senior Manager at The Open University in Ireland.