Born in Wales, sculptor Barry Flanagan studied at Birmingham College of Art and Crafts and St Martin's School of Art, London. Best known for his leaping and dancing bronze hares which were displayed worldwide, Flanagan represented Britain at the 1982 Venice Biennale. He was elected to the Royal Academy and received an OBE in 1991. A major retrospective of Flannagan’s work was held at IMMA, in association with Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, in 2006.  

Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney studied at Queen's University, Belfast. His major poetry collections include Death of a Naturalist (1966), The Haw Lantern (1987) and The Spirit Level (1996). He also published works of prose, criticism and translation. Heaney received many literary prizes including the Whitbread Poetry Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. He taught at Queen's University, Harvard University, Oxford University.