Ciaran Benson

Ciaran Benson is Professor Emeritus of Psychology in University College Dublin. His interests include the cultural psychology of self and identity, psychology and philosophy of the visual arts, and psychological dimensions of society and social/cultural policy. His books include The Cultural Psychology of Self: Place Morality and Art in Human Worlds (London/New York, Routledge, 2001) and The Absorbed Self: Pragmatism, Psychology and Aesthetic Experience (London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993).

In 2007 he was Royden Davis Visiting Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). He was founding chair of the Irish Film Institute and of the City Arts Centre Dublin, Chair of An Chomairle Ealaion/The Arts Council (1993-98), and is currently chair of Poetry Ireland, The Grangegorman Public Art Working Group, and the Irish Museums Trust.