Over the past 15 years, Fionnuala has established a distinguished career as a songwriter, composer, and sound designer. Her portfolio comprises numerous critically acclaimed performance and composition projects, many of which explore the evocative intersection of subjective narratives and attachment to place.

Fionnuala’s work is deeply informed by both practice and research. A former Artist-in-Residence at The Metropolitan Arts Centre (The MAC) Belfast (2014), she was awarded a PhD from the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast in 2015. Her scholarly contributions include published research in the Oral History Journal, and her artistic legacy is further cemented by the preservation of four of her studio-recorded albums within the British Library archives.

Her recent commissions highlight a versatile range, including Lisnabreeny Townland—a work for solo flute and electronics for the Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble—and Wondrous JAM, composed for the Junior Academy of Music’s children’s choir at Queen’s University. This versatility extends to her work as a sound designer for c21 Theatre Company’s internationally acclaimed production Expecting, which has toured to the Edinburgh Fringe, the Keegan Theatre in Washington, D.C., and Teatro Mayor in Bogotá, Colombia. As a recipient of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Music Bursary (2024) and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Project Fund (2025), she has recently recorded a new collection of original songs. The ten-track album, entitled Blackberry Path, is set for release in Autumn 2026.

Complementing her creative output, Fionnuala brings extensive industry leadership and pedagogical expertise to her professional roles. Following a three-year tenure as Company Manager at c21 Theatre Company, she continues to shape the next generation of talent lecturing in Songwriting at Queen’s University Belfast. She further extends her narrative work into the media sector as a Researcher for Factual TV at High Rock Media.