Brenda Duggan graduated from NCAD with an honours degree in visual communication and worked as a designer in Dublin before spending two years teaching design in Zimbabwe. On return to Dublin she completed a Masters degree in digital media at Dublin Institute of Technology, and then worked for a number of years at Windmill Lane Pictures.

Brenda teaches also on the new MA in Critical Art and Design Practice at the school. Her main focus in education and research is design practice and digital media technologies, looking at the role new digital technologies have on design industry, society and education. she has published in the field of visual communication, social semiotics and multimodality.