Dr Bernadette Quinn is a human geographer. She is employed as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Hospitality Management & Tourism at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). Her main research interest is arts festivals and she has written and taught extensively about the roles that they play in transforming places, transforming space and in moulding community and place identities.

Currently, she is particularly interested in linking festival studies with broader debates about social sustainability and has been commissioned by Sage (London) to write a book about Festivals & Events for Social Sustainability. She has also published on memory and heritage, particularly in respect of story-telling, interpretation and learning at heritage sites. Social inclusion in tourism and leisure practices is another interest, especially with respect to women and people experiencing social disadvantage.

Bernadette is the Programme Chair of the MSc Event Management programme at the DIT. She has examined six PhD theses on festival and event related topics in the UK, Norway and Australia; has supervised two doctoral students to completion; and is currently supervising three doctoral projects.

She has held External Examining roles at a number of third level institutions in Ireland and the UK, including current roles on the MSc Cultural Event Management programme, De Montfort University, Leicester and the BA (Hons) International Festival and Event Management programme at Edinburgh Napier University. Bernadette sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events and the Irish Journal of Arts Management & Cultural Policy.