Man and wife in jobshare harmony

When a full-time lecturing position in Irish traditional music came up in UL, Sandra Joyce and Niall Keegan both jumped at it. Instead of applying separately, however, the husband and wife team sent in a joint application and got the job.

"We were on contract here for a number of years and when the job came up we thought we'd go for a jobshare rather applying individually," says Sandra Joyce. A jobshare suited the pair since they are both performers - he plays the flute and she's a singer and bodhran player.

"Performance is important to us," Joyce says. "It's central to everything we do. Our course is a performance one and it's important that we're out there performing on a regular basis. We're very lucky that UL has accommodated us." Is it working out? Absolutely, she says. "We're continuing to do what we have been doing. We've always worked together as a team. It hasn't made a big change in our lives."

The joint lectureship involves running undergraduate modules in Irish traditional music and a masters in traditional music performance, as well as a number of other projects including the annual Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance.

Jobsharing can involve a loss of control, but Joyce maintains that in their case they simply complement each other: "It's not as if we're sitting in an office together all day - we're lecturing and meeting students. There's always somebody at the door. It's a very busy job."