SERC Lecturer to feature in BBC Programme

Full-time lecturer, Amy Louise Wyatt is set to feature in a BBC documentary which follows several people from different walks of life, who have submitted artwork to the Royal Ulster Society of Arts, in the hope it will be selected for the Society’s annual exhibition.

The A-Level Religious Studies and Social Science lecturer based at SERC’s Bangor Campus - better known to her students and colleagues as Amy Rafferty - is a woman of many talents. She has been both shortlisted and long listed for the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing, won the Waterways Festival Poetry Competition in 2021 and the inaugural Poetygram Prize in 2019, which is edited and curated by Yorkshire-born novelist and poet, Helen Cox.

Amy graduated from Queen’s University of Belfast with a BA in Social Anthropology and English, studying Creative Writing under well-known Maeve McGuckin. Following a gap year, she completed a PGCE in English, Media and Drama and after teaching for several years, she ran her own business, the popular Curious Cat Cafe in Bangor, before joining the SERC team eight years ago. She recently completed a Creative Writing Masters through the Open University.

Speaking about her art, she said, “For me it is a form of escapism from a busy life, offering an outlet for creativity which enables me to connect with others on a human level.”

The documentary also features Amy’s mother Alice, who did a foundation diploma at SERC, and another past student of art, Stephen Greer. The Secret Artists, made by 3 Rock Productions and Lennox Productions, is available on BBC iPlayer and will also be shown on BBC One Northern Ireland on Wednesday 8 February at 22:40 GMT.