Dr Sarah Arnold

Media Studies, Motherhood Project, Arts and Humanities Institute
Biography
I joined Maynooth University's Department of Media in September 2016 and am currently Head of Department. I previously worked at the school of Film & Television at Falmouth University in the UK. I received my PhD from NUI Galway's Huston School of Film & Digital Media in 2010.
At Maynooth University, I teach across the BA in Media Studies and the MA in Critical and Creative Media on subjects ranging from television studies to screen production.
I am co-PI of the Women in Focus project - an IRC/AHRC Digital Humanities funded project investigating women's amateur filmmaking. I'm also a researcher on the MotherNet project, an interdisciplinary project that builds research capacity across three European universities through the topic of 'narratives of motherhood'. I'm also a researcher on the GEMINI project, a pan-European collaboration aimed at tackling gender stereotypes by engaging high school students with serial drama's representation of gender issues. I currently supervise 3 PhDs and 2 postdocs.
My research is more generally concerned with cultural production, from women's role in film and television practice to new entrants' experience of media and creative work.
I welcome enquiries from people interested in pursuing PhDs or postdoctoral projects on topics in these areas.
Research Projects
Book
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2021 | O' Brien A, Arnold S & Kerrigan P. (2021) Media Graduates at Work: Irish Narratives on Policy, Education and Industry. London: Palgrave MacMillan. | |
2021 | Arnold, S. (2021) Gender and Early Television: Mapping Women’s Role in Emerging US and British Media, 1850-1950. [Link] | |
2013 | Sarah Arnold; Mark de Valk (2013) The Film Handbook. London: Routledge. | |
2013 | Sarah Arnold (2013) Maternal Horror Film: Motherhood and Melodrama. Basingstoke: Palgrave. |
Peer Reviewed Journal
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2025 | O' Brien, A & Arnold, S (2025) 'Employment motivations and values in the creative industries: Reorienting from creativity to well-being among-Generation Zs in Ireland'. European Journal of Cultural Studies, . [DOI] | |
2025 | Sarah Arnold; Izzy Fox (2025) 'Challenges and opportunities in teaching gender equality in Irish secondary schools'. Gender and Education, Online First :1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2025.2462051 | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden (2024) 'Hidden in Plain Sight: Attending to Women’s Amateur Filmmaking Histories at the Irish Film Archive'. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, . [Link] [DOI] | |
2024 | Arnold, S.; O’Brien, A.; Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė, L.; Šalaj, J. (2024) '“I never thought about how much of a juggle it would be”: motherhood and work in contemporary Lithuanian and Irish creative industries'. Feminist Media Studies, . [Link] [DOI] | |
2024 | O’Brien, A.; Arnold, S. (2024) 'Combining motherhood and work in the creative industries: Mothers have the problem'. Media, Culture and Society, . [Link] [DOI] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Kate Terkanian; Helen Warner (2024) 'Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 44 (4):656-668. [Link] [DOI] | |
2023 | Arnold, S.; O’Brien, A. (2023) '“I’m so lucky”: narratives of struggle, unfairness and luck in among new entrants to the Irish media industries'. Creative Industries Journal, . [Link] [DOI] | |
2022 | Arnold S. (2022) 'Skills narratives amongst media degree graduates and students: Discourses of hard and soft skills in education-to-work journeys'. Industry And Higher Education, . [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2022 | O' Brien, A & Arnold, S. (2022) 'Creative industries’ new entrants as equality, diversity and inclusion change agents?'. Cultural Trends, . https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2022.2141100 [Full-Text] | |
2022 | Sarah Arnold & Hannah Andrews (2022) 'Editorial'. Critical Studies in Television: scholarly studies in small screen fictions, 17 (3). [Link] [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2022 | O' Brien, A & Arnold, S. (2022) 'Imagining Diversity: An Irish Case Study of Graduates’ Perceptions of Inequality in Media Work'. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, (24):32-48. [Link] [Full-Text] | |
2021 | Arnold S. (2021) 'Experiments in early US television: windows of opportunities for female technical workers in the 1940s'. Women's History Review, . [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2021 | O’ Brien, Anne & Arnold, Sarah (2021) 'Doing Women’s Film and Television History: Locating Women in Film and Television, Past and Present'. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, . https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.20.01 [Full-Text] | |
2018 | Sarah Arnold (2018) 'The Production of Television’s Female Audience: Early BBC Audience Research and Gender Classification'. . [Full-Text] | |
2015 | Sarah Arnold (2015) 'Urban Decay Photography and Film: Fetishism and the Apocalyptic Imagination'. Journal of Urban History, 41 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144214563499 [Full-Text] | |
2014 | Sarah Arnold; Dario Llinares (2014) 'New Perspectives on Cinematic Spectatorship, Digital Culture and Space: Re-evaluating Exhibition, Participation and Interaction'. . | |
2013 | Sarah Arnold (2013) 'Redacted: The Iraqi War According to Youtube'. . [Full-Text] |
Book Chapter
Published Report
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2024 | Marica Spalletta; Kim Toft Hansen; Louise Brix Jacobsen; Camilla Møller Olesen; Paola De Rosa; Raluca Radu; Nicola Ferrigni; Mihai Coman; Anamaria Sasu; Nicoleta Talpes; Sarah Arnold; Izzy Fox (2024) Understanding Young Adults. European Commission, . [Link] | |
2020 | O’ Brien, A., Arnold, S. Culloty, E. Naji, J. (2020) Global Alliance on Media and Gender Country Report on Ireland. GAMAG, . |
Conference Contribution
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2025 | Anne O'Brien; Sarah Arnold (2025) Inequalities in the Creative Industries Creative Industries and working mothers in Ireland- Motherhood as the problem for Mothers to fix Birmingham City University, 16/01/2025-16/01/2025. | |
2025 | Sarah Arnold; Anne O'Brien (2025) Inequalities in the Creative Industries Employment Motivations and Values in the CIs: Reorienting from Creativity to Wellbeing, Generation Zs in Ireland Birmingham City University, 16/01/2024-16/01/2024. | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold (2024) International Federation for Research in Women's History conference Archival Interventions: women’s amateur filmmaking and correctives to its absence in audiovisual archive Tsuda University -Sendagaya Campus- 1-18-24 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0051, 09/08/2024-09/08/2024. [Link] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Moynagh Sullivan (2024) IASIL Conference Patriarchal Aftermaths: The Rise of Motherhood Studies in 21st Century Irish Studies Gakushuin University Tokyo, 05/08/2024-07/08/2024. [Link] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold (2024) Animation and Ireland Symposium The Animated Films of Flora Kerrigan IADT, Dublin, 29/11/2024-29/11/2024. | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold (2024) Aesthetics of Access (DAVIF) Amateur Film, Women’s Cultural Production and Feminist Approaches to Metadata Deutscher Sprachatlas, Pilgrimstein 16, 35037 Marburg, 14/11/2024-14/11/2024. [Link] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Kasandra O (2024) Hidden Archives: Marginalised and Alternative Collections and Practices Women in Focus: Developing a Feminist Approach to Film Archive Metadata and Cataloguing Dublin, 30/01/2024-30/01/2024. [Link] | |
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Anne O'Brien (2023) Meno avilys The Horrors of Motherhood in Irish Film: a study of representation and industry participation Meno Avilys' Cinematheque (A. Goštauto St. 2, Vilnius), 01/02/2023-01/02/2023. [Link] | |
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Anne O'Brien (2023) Gender, Work & Organization Imagining diversity - An Irish case study of graduates perceptions of inequality in media work Stellenbosch, South Africa, 28/06/2023-30/06/2023. [Link] | |
2022 | Sarah Arnold (2022) BBC at 100 Television Studies: Women at the BBC Bradford University, 13/09/2022-15/09/2022. | |
2022 | Sarah Arnold (2022) Motherhood on Screen Domesticating Motherhood in Contemporary Irish Horror Film Maynooth University, 23/09/2022-24/09/2022. | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold (2021) Television Histories in Development Creating the daytime audience data: (Mis)locating women in US television audience research Hilverstrum, Netherlands, 30/09/2021-01/10/2021. | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold & Anne O'Brien (2021) Motherhood and Work Motherhood and Work: A virtual conference Virtual, 24/06/2021-25/06/2021. | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold (2021) 'International Best Practice' The future of media: experience, models, practice Royal Irish Academy, 06/05/2021-. | |
2021 | Anne O Brien & Sarah Arnold (2021) Gender Work and Organisation Equality and Diversity in the Media Industries: attitudes among new entrants to media work in Ireland Online, . | |
2020 | Sarah Arnold & Anne O'Brien (2020) “I was very much aware of what I would have to sacrifice…”: Finding media graduates’ lived experience, memories of education and career narratives through qualitative methodologies Methodologies for Screen Media Research Bristol, Watershed Cinema & UWE, 15/01/2020-15/01/2020. | |
2019 | Sarah Arnold (2019) Women in Media Conference on female practitioners in the Irish media sectors University College Cork, 15/03/2019-. | |
2019 | Sarah Arnold (2019) Experiments in early US television: Windows of opportunities for female technical workers in the 1940s Invited speaker at Gendered labour, technology and the media workshop Sussex University, Brighton, . | |
2018 | Sarah Arnold (2018) Audience Research at the BBC: Gendering and Scheduling Presentation at conference Doing Women's Film & Television History Southampton, UK, . | |
2018 | Sarah Arnold (2018) ‘Internalised misogynists’: The language of oppression and female Trump supporters This paper considers how the use of gendered discourse in criticisms of female Trump supporters risks reinforcing existing gender structures, reproduces discursive regimes that humiliate and silence and denies those very women subjectivity and agency SCMS, Toronto, Canada, . | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) Feminist Futures: intersections of new media, technologies and women’s bodies, sex and sexuality Lecture delivered at Dublin Feminist Film Festival Dublin, . | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) ‘Internalised misogynists’: The language of oppression and female Trump supporters This paper considers how the use of gendered discourse in criticisms of female Trump supporters risks reinforcing existing gender structures, reproduces discursive regimes that humiliate and silence and denies those very women subjectivity and agency Trump's America conference UCD, Dublin, Ireland, . | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) Making the Female Audience: Audience Research at the BBC This paper traces the means by which the institutionally-produced category of the female viewer formed in early television audience research at the BBC International Federation of Television Archives, Mexico City, . | |
2016 | Sarah Arnold, Anne O'Brien and Maria Pramaggiore (2016) Othered Voices: Women’s Voices in Media Industries Panel discussion on women in the Irish media industries Dublin Feminist Film Festival, . |
Blog
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2024 | Keith Johnston; Sarah Arnold (2024) Bringing Women into Focus in Film & Media Archives. Online: [Blog] [Link] | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold (2021) What Future For Irish Public Service Television?: Rté Television And Technological Adaptation. [Blog] [Link] | |
2020 | Sarah Arnold (2020) Reflections on Media Education During the Covid-19 Lockdowns. [Blog] [Link] | |
2019 | Sarah Arnold & Anne O'Brien (2019) From Education to Work: Media Graduates’ Experience of the Media Industries. [Blog] [Link] | |
2018 | Sarah Arnold (2018) The BBC Gender Problem: A Century in the Making. [Blog] | |
2018 | Sarah Arnold (2018) Between Programme Policy and Practice: Gender, Diversity and the Case of RTÉ’s Children’s Christmas Show, the Late Late Toy Show. [Blog] | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) When news and drama compete for time: The Handmaid’s Tale’s release. [Blog] [Link] | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) Virtual Reality: The Sexual Revolution is not Taking Place. [Blog] [Link] | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) Live from Facebook… and the BBC… and the Users: Video Streaming and Authorship. [Blog] [Link] | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) What Use is a Gendered Audience?: Institutional Classification Then and Now. [Blog] [Link] | |
2016 | Sarah Arnold (2016) Live Broadcasting: Brought to you by Facebook. [Blog] [Link] | |
2016 | Sarah Arnold (2016) Isn't it Funny: Now we can Laugh at Brexit. [Blog] [Link] |
Book Review
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2022 | Sarah Arnold (2022) Book Review: Frances Galt, Women’s Activism Behind the Screens: Trade Unions and Gender Inequality in the British Film and Television Industries, Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2021. [Book Review] | |
2022 | Arnold, S (2022) Movie Workers: The Women Who Made British Cinema. EDINBURGH: [Book Review] [DOI] |
Invited Lectures
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Kasandra O'Connell (2024) Women in Focus: Developing a Feminist Approach to Film Archive Metadata and Cataloguing. IFI Dublin: [Invited Lectures] [Link] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold (2024) Amateur Film, Women’s Cultural Production and Feminist Approaches to Metadata. Deutscher Sprachatlas, Pilgrimstein 16, 35037 Marburg: [Invited Lectures] [Link] | |
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Anne O'Brien (2023) https://ifi.ie/film/hidden-archives-marginalised-and-alternative-collections-and-practices/. Meno Avilys' Cinematheque A. Goštauto St. 2, Vilnius: [Invited Lectures] [Link] | |
2022 | Sarah Arnold (2022) Domesticating Motherhood in Contemporary Irish Horror Film. Maynooth University: [Invited Lectures] [Link] | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold (2017) Feminist Futures: intersections of new media, technologies and women’s bodies, sex and sexuality. Dublin Feminist Film Festival 2017: [Invited Lectures] [Link] |
Newspaper Articles
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2020 | Sarah Arnold (2020) How Netflix changed what we watch on our screens. [Newspaper Articles] [Link] | |
2019 | Sarah Arnold (2019) Derry Girls and the value of good television. [Newspaper Articles] [Link] | |
2019 | Sarah Arnold (2019) And the winner is: the Academy Awards' problem with women. [Newspaper Articles] [Link] | |
2017 | Sarah Arnold & Anne O'Brien (2017) Newstalk and RTE aren't alone - most of the Irish media industry has a 'woman problem'. [Newspaper Articles] [Link] |
Report
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Paul Frith; Keith M Johnston; Carolann Madden; Zoë Viney Burgess (2023) Women in Focus: A Toolkit for Archiving Women. UEA: [Report] [Link] |
Screening
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Sunniva O'Flynn; Kasandra O'Connell; Flora Kerrigan (2024) CINÉ-CONCERT: A FOCUS ON FLORA KERRIGAN. [Screening] [Link] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Kasandra O'Connell; Flora Kerrigan (2024) A Focus on Flora Kerrigan. London: [Screening] [Link] | |
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden; Sunniva O'Flynn; Kasandra O'Connell; Flora Kerrigan (2023) IFI Cork On Camera: A Focus on Flora Kerrigan. Cork: [Screening] [Link] | |
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden; Kasandra O'Connell (2023) Irish Women’s Amateur Filmmakers. Berlin: [Screening] [Link] | |
2022 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden; Kasandra O'Connell; Sr Maureen MacMahon (2022) IFI & MAYNOOTH: WOMEN IN FOCUS. Dublin: [Screening] [Link] |
Workshops
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2025 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden (2025) iCAN: community film heritage workshop. Ireland: [Workshops] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden; Ciarán Walsh (2024) Any old film in the attic? Managing personal collections of film and digital media. [Workshops] [Link] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden; Kasandra O'Connell (2024) Empowering Archives training at the Irish Film Archive. Dublin: [Workshops] | |
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Carolann Madden; Ciarán Walsh; John Lynch; Michael Mulcahy (2024) Making Movies: a workshop in 8mm and 16mm filmmaking. [Workshops] [Link] | |
2024 | Kasandra O'Connell; Sarah Arnold (2024) IFI & Dublin Festival of History –Women & Amateur Film in Focus. Dublin: [Workshops] [Link] |
Conference Hosted
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Denis Condon (2023) The Irish War of Independence & the Civil War on Film. Dublin: [Conference Hosted] [Link] | |
2023 | Sarah Arnold; Sharon Webb (2023) AI and the Archive. UK: [Conference Hosted] [Link] | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold; Anne O'Brien (2021) Motherhood and Work Conference. Maynooth University: [Conference Hosted] [Link] | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold (2021) Doing Women's Film & Television History V conference. Online Hosted by Maynooth University: [Conference Hosted] [Link] |
Podcast
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2024 | Sarah Arnold; Toby Miller (2024) Sarah Arnold on Ireland, gender, women’s amateur film, women and television history, motherhood, horror, and student activism. [Podcast] [Link] | |
2022 | Sarah Arnold; Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed; Eglė Kačkutė; Rūta Šlapkauskaitė (2022) Bad Mothers. Uppsala University: [Podcast] [Link] | |
2021 | Sarah Arnold; Anne O'Brien (2021) Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media Podcast. Episode 05, Issue 20, ‘Doing Women’s Film and Television History. Cork: [Podcast] [Link] |
Published Interview
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2023 | Marjorie Brennan (2023) Flora Kerrigan: Rediscovering a pioneer of Cork. Cork: [Published Interview] [Link] |
Curated Exhibition
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2025 | Sarah Arnold; Sunniva O'Flynn (2025) Flora Kerrigan – Rediscovering a Film Pioneer. Scotland: [Curated Exhibition] [Link] |
Teaching Interests
Taught modules are as follows:
BA Media Studies:
- MD161 Introduction to Media & Cultural Studies
- MD332 Media & Cultural Work
- MD314 Media & Cultural Industries
I also supervise PhD projects on subjects in film and television industries and work; and gender and representation gender and work. Past PhD students include John Hillman and Tugce Bivac. Current PhD students include Eleanor McSherry, Jonathan O'Brien and Sarah Larkin. Postdoctoral researchers that I supervise include Carolann Madden and Izzy Fox.