Orla Delaney, St John's
Course: English
Supervisor: Prof Caroline Bassett
Dissertation Title:
Evaluating the use and potential of the museum database to accommodate narrative multiplicity in the management of postcolonial collections
Biographical Information
I completed my BA in English Literature and German at Trinity College, Dublin in 2017, followed by an MSc in Digital Humanities at UCL. I then worked as a data scientist in the marketing and sports broadcast industries before taking up a Research Fellowship on an EU SSHOC-funded project at the National Gallery in 2020, where I piloted the migration of collections data to CIDOC-CRM.
I began my PhD at Cambridge in 2021, funded by a Centenary Award from the Faculty of English.
Research Interests
My research examines collection database infrastructures in cultural heritage institutions through an ethnographic lens. I am interested in the relational construction of technology, the histories and affordances of particular digital infrastructures, and the ways museums are using their databases to address the challenge of decolonisation.
I have previously worked on the use of linked data in museums, both practically and from a critical perspective.
