Gender, the arts in education, teacher identity, teacher-artist partnership. theatre for young audiences, performance, narrative inquiry, and arts-based research methods.

Dr Dorothy Morrissey is a Lecturer in Drama Education at MIC, where she is also Faculty of Education EDI and Interculturalism Lead, and Coordinator of MIC's Theatre Artist in Residence programme. She recently tendered successfully (with Dr Hannagh McGinley, MIC) for the STAR (Supporting Traveller and Roma) strand of BLAST (Bringing Live Arts to Schools) and Creative Clusters under the Traveller and Roma Education Strategy (TRES). In 2024, Dorothy completed two research commissions:  one for Baboró International Children's Festival on The Wonder Project, a sensory theatre project in special schools; the other for the Department of Education, I am Creative: Collaborating with artists in Special Education Settings. Her Department of Education commissioned evaluation of Creative Clusters, where clusters of two to five schools collaborate on bespoke creative projects, was published in 2023. Dorothy is a member of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) Arts Education Development Group, a founding member of the All of Ireland Talking TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) Research Network, a member of the (National) Arts and Culture Research in Education Repository Committee, and a member of MIC's Research Committee. She has previously worked as a provider of CPD for teachers, as a primary teacher in mainstream and special schools, and as an adult education tutor (in Literature and Women's Studies) at University College Cork.