The second report from our 2025 Bursary Prize winners comes from Ciara O’Neill (Edge Hill University). Ciara used the BAIS bursary to support the development of her practice-based PhD:

The bursary received from BAIS has been invaluable to myself thus far on my practice-based PhD research project. It has enabled me to perform the final performance output of my doctoral project in both Ormskirk in Lancashire in October 2025, and at Accidental Theatre in Belfast in January 2026. The money has allowed me to hire rehearsal and performance space and to purchase props, as well as assist the promotion of my performance in Belfast. 

The bursary further enabled me to attend performance workshops in Belfast prior to the final event, and helped me to purchase extra props and equipment that proved difficult to transport from Liverpool to Belfast.

Overall, my PhD project would not have been able to have progressed as quickly or as well without the aid of my BAIS bursary for which I am truly grateful. More importantly, I am grateful to be able to carry out practice-based arts research grounded in Irish Studies. 

Ciara is a PhD student at Edge Hill University. Her project examines the forgotten and misrepresented women’s voices of the ‘Troubles’ in Belfast-made theatre from 1969-1998. Her research is practice-based, using voices and stories of women in Belfast who lived through the conflict to create a theatre performance that gives voice to real autobiographical work.

Read a review of Ciara’s performance, ‘No Woman’s Land’, here.