Dr. Audrey Whitty, Ph.D. is Curator of Ceramics, Glass and Asian collections at the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin. She has curated several exhibitions, most notably ‘A Dubliner’s Collection of Asian Art: The Albert Bender Exhibition’ and the National Museum’s visible storage facility (approx. 16,500 objects), which showcases some of the museum’s most important collections of applied arts. A graduate (B.A.: History and Archaeology) and postgraduate (M.A.: Archaeology) of University College Dublin, she
also received a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in History of Art as a result of her thesis, ‘The Albert Bender (1866-1941) Donations of Far Eastern Art to the National Museum of Ireland in the context of his Cultural Interests in Ireland and California’.

In addition to her role at the National Museum she has been appointed Irish Commissioner to both European Ceramic Context and European Glass Context (European Union-wide biennales of contemporary glass and ceramics) since 2006, which take place on the Danish island of Bornholm.

She has published over forty articles/catalogues/books (on both historical and contemporary topics of material culture) and lectured to such bodies/institutions as the Sorbonne, Paris; Trinity College Dublin; National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; SOFA, Chicago; National University of Ireland, Galway; the American Irish Historical Society, New York City; the Irish-Chinese Cultural Society; University College Dublin; National University of Ireland, Maynooth; and the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. She is author of the major forthcoming publication (50,000 words) on the Albert Bender Collection of Asian Art, which will be published by the National Museum and Wordwell in 2011.