Deirdre O’Toole is a lecturer in the National Film School of Ireland, IADT. She lectures on the BA (Hons) Film and Television Production, BA (Hons) New Media Studies and the Erasmus+ MA Cinematography. Deirdre has a practice-based PhD in Film and Visual Studies from Queen's University Belfast, where she made documentaries collaborating with storytellers who had experienced trauma.

Deirdre is a filmmaker who has worked for many years as a cinematographer where she filmed documentaries, music videos and dramas. Deirdre has directed three documentaries which have been shown extensively in film festivals and galleries around the world including Chagrin Documentary Festival, Ohio, Red Rock Film Festival, Utah, Docs Ireland, Belfast, Aspen Mountain Film Festival, Colorado, On Art Film Festival, Poland, Kinosmena Festival, Minsk, Irish Film Institute Documentary Festival, and Europa Documentary Festival, Egypt. Her work was showcased for four months in the Turchin Centre for the Arts, North Carolina in 2019, twice in the Saranac Gallery in Washington and twice in CIACLA, USA.