The Independent Panel has appointed four experienced Testimony Facilitators. They are Megan Kelly, Olivia (Livi) Dee, Ruth Duffy and Lucy Newby.
The Testimony Facilitators work with Independent Panel members, Sean O’Connell and Beverley Clarke, to assist with gathering testimony from those who wish to share their experiences with the Independent Panel.
Visit our page about Giving Your Testimony to hear more from our Testimony Facilitators Dr Megan Kelly and Dr Olivia (Livi) Dee about what the process of giving your testimony looks like.
Dr Megan Kelly
Dr Megan Kelly is an Oral Historian and Research Assistant at Queen’s University Belfast School of Nursing & Midwifery, specialising in exploring the holistic experiences of dialysis patients. Megan received her PhD from Queen's University Belfast in 2022. Her thesis, 'Nursing the Troubles,' delves into the emotional labour of acute nursing during the 'Troubles', where she experienced working in sensitive research.
Megan's research extends to trade unions' roles in peacekeeping and examining conflict memory within the Prison Memory Archives (PMA) where she was an intern between 2018-2019. Megan also presented her unique PhD methodology at the Qualitative Research Forum at Cambridge University, showcasing her expertise in oral history and qualitative methodologies.
Dr Olivia (Livi) Dee
Dr Livi Dee is an Oral Historian and Research Fellow at Queen's University Belfast. She specialises in women's experiences of pregnancy and birth, and the development of reproductive rights in the UK. She has published on many aspects of women's history including abortion reform, contraception and mother and baby institutions, and her monograph, The Anti-Abortion Campaign 1966-1989, was published in 2019.
Livi was the oral historian attached to the 2021 research report "Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland" and conducted the majority of the interviews for this publication. As a result of this, and several other research grants, she is experienced in conducting trauma-informed oral history interviews on difficult and emotional subject matter.
Dr Ruth Duffy
Dr Ruth Duffy is an Oral Historian and Research Fellow within the School of Arts, English, and Languages at Queen's University Belfast. Her research centres on the use of oral history as a method for uncovering and examining hidden or sensitive histories.
Currently, she is engaged in an innovative project that delves into the lived experiences of mixed marriage couples in Ireland. Ruth earned her PhD from Ulster University in 2021, and her groundbreaking doctoral research has since culminated in her first monograph, which provides the first in-depth exploration of the Northern Ireland Health Service's experiences during the Troubles.
Before assuming her current role, Ruth contributed to the NHS: Voices of Covid-19 project at the University of Manchester. During the height of the pandemic, this project was instrumental in collecting personal testimonies of the Covid-19 crisis, with the aim of preserving them as an enduring public resource and using them to inform future policy and practice.
Additionally, in 2021-2022, Ruth collaborated on a Covid-19 focused initiative with Belfast City Council: The Freedom of the City Music Project. This project honoured Belfast's frontline workers and communities as well as capturing their personal stories and experiences.
Dr Lucy Newby
Dr Lucy Newby is an experienced oral historian and community history trainer, with an established background in testimony facilitation for a wide variety of academic and community research projects. She specialises in researching emotionally sensitive topics and experiences subject to erasure in the historical record.
Based in Manchester, Lucy currently leads a community oral history training programme and frequently conducts workshops on creating safe and supportive environments for interviews. Lucy received her doctorate at the University of Brighton in 2020 for an oral history project exploring youth experiences of the Northern Ireland conflict. She has published widely on this research along with the theory and practice of oral history.