"university of liverpool" blog posts

Watch the second Annual Seamus Heaney Lecture

Posted on: 17 December 2021 | Category: 2021 posts

Professor Peter Shirlow, Sinead Cusack at the second annual Seamus Heaney lecture

On Thursday 18 November 2021 the Institute of Irish Studies welcomed Professor Roy Foster (Emeritus Professor of Irish History, University of Oxford, and author of On Seamus Heaney) to deliver the second Annual Seamus Heaney Lecture


Our Favourite Places to Visit Outside of the City

Posted on: 8 August 2021 | Category: 2021 posts

Photograph of Crosby Beach

Sometimes you just want to take a break from city life, escape for a few hours. We know the feeling! We've put together a few suggestions of where you could go, including some stops along the way. So get your comfy trainers ready because you're about to go on an adventure.


Exiled Women – English and Irish nuns at home and away

Posted on: 23 March 2021 | Category: 2021 posts

Painting of a group of people

In seventeenth century England, Catholicism was outlawed across the land, punishable by heavy fines, imprisonment, and sometimes execution. Ireland (then under English rule) had just concluded the Nine Year’s War that effectively ended the Gaelic political systems that had survived for centuries, with greater plantation of Protestant settlers to follow.


Confronting a 'dark and painful reality': the Mother and Baby Homes Report

Posted on: 18 January 2021 | Category: 2021 posts

Flowers left at the site of the Bon Secours, Mother and Baby Home, Tuam

Postgraduate research student Lucy Simpson-Kilbane discusses the Mother and Baby Homes Report, Ireland, published earlier this month following a five-year inquiry.


Video: In Conversation with Nana Nubi, Author of the Nigerian Heritage Colouring Book

Posted on: 27 October 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Nana Nubi holding a copy of her book Nigerian Heritage

The School of Histories, Languages and Cultures at the University of Liverpool was delighted to present Nana Nubi (Founder of the 'Alpha Project' Ireland, author of 'Nigerian Heritage') in conversation with Jacob Hussain (final year undergraduate in Irish Studies) in a live online discussion during Black History Month 2020.


Welcome to Liverpool! 5 tips for Irish Studies students new to University of Liverpool

Posted on: 26 September 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Irish Studies students and lecturer discussing books

Welcome week runs from 28 September – 2 October 2020 and is set to be a little different this year, however there are still tons of events and tools that you can use to interact with the department, explore the city and get to know the University of Liverpool as a new student. Here are 5 tips for Irish Studies students during Welcome Week to get yourself settled and in the know as soon as possible:


Revisit the Great Famine Voices Roadshow

Posted on: 5 May 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Great Famine Voices Roadshow

The Institute of Irish Studies was delighted to co-host the Great Famine Voices Roadshow Liverpool on Saturday 2 May with the Irish National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park and Irish Heritage Trust, supported by our partners Liverpool Irish Festival and the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee.


Emmeline Pankhurst: A Women's History Month Special

Posted on: 6 March 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

a woman being arrested

Emmeline Pankhurst is an iconic figure in the fight for women’s suffrage in Britain. Through her organisation, the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), she campaigned for women’s rights. My research explores the connections between the Pankhurst family and Irish nationalism in Britain. In the case of Emmeline, Irish nationalism provided her with a political education which she publicised in her autobiography My Own Story.


The Best Irish Studies Podcasts to Listen to Right Now

Posted on: 6 March 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Person with headphones in subway

Looking for a way to learn on the go? Maybe you need a break from reading or you just can’t take sitting at a desk all day. That’s where podcasts come in. An entertaining yet informative way of learning is right at your fingertips. Pick up your phone and choose from the list below of Irish Studies podcasts you just can’t miss.


Watch: Mary Robinson discusses women's leadership and climate change

Posted on: 23 January 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Mary Robinson giving a lecture

Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson spoke about women’s leadership and climate change at a special event organised by the London Irish Lawyers Association in association with the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies.


Our top revision tips for exam season

Posted on: 6 January 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Student reading book in library.

It’s that time of year again. But you’ve got this. Deep breath.


How the Institute’s “Agreement” exhibition came about (Ken Bartley, ArtisAnn Gallery)

Posted on: 29 November 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

As all good winter’s tales begin... it was a crisp, frosty Christmas Eve when I bumped into old friend and colleague Prof Pete Shirlow, Director of The Institute of Irish Studies, as he strolled along Belfast’s Ormeau Road. Since our days, many years ago, working at Queen’s University, Pete was now running a major “Arts for Reconciliation” research project, while I was the co-owner of the ArtisAnn contemporary art gallery in Belfast. We chatted about the potential for an exhibition to mark 20 years of peace in Northern Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.


Watch the Inaugural Seamus Heaney Lecture

Posted on: 31 October 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

On Thursday 17 October 2019 the Institute of Irish Studies welcomed Professor Louise Richardson (Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford) to deliver the inaugural Seamus Heaney Lecture. The event was introduced with a recital of Seamus Heaney's poetry by Adrian Dunbar (actor, screenwriter and director).


Professor Frank Shovlin visits the University of Notre Dame, USA

Posted on: 15 October 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Professor Frank Shovlin writes about his recent visiting fellowship to the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.


Viking Wirral on Wheels Bike Tour

Posted on: 16 September 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

The ‘Viking Wirral on Wheels’ cycle tour was the brainchild of Craig Pennington, organiser of the Future Yard music festival at Birkenhead in August 2019 and Don Maclean of Ryde bicycle cafe in Liverpool. Dr Clare Downham provides an overview of the day.


Five things to do during Welcome Week

Posted on: 13 September 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Liverpool skyline - photo by Charles Pragnell from Pexels

Welcome Week kicks off on Monday, giving new students the opportunity to get to know their new flatmates, explore Liverpool and settle in before they start lectures. Take a look at our top five tips to help you get started with university life.


Women and military power in the tenth century

Posted on: 30 May 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

In Game of Thrones and Vikings, viewers have seen representations of women warriors and military leaders in medievalesque settings, but how accurate is this a reflection of women in the past? Dr Clare Downham from the Institute of Irish Studies explains.


'The Singer's House' by Seamus Heaney - Poetry Day Ireland

Posted on: 2 May 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Frank Shovlin

In this video, Prof Frank Shovlin explains his close connection to 'The Singer's House' by Seamus Heaney and reads this wistful poem for Poetry Day Ireland.


Irish Studies students visit Western Approaches War Museum

Posted on: 10 December 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Western Approaches visit

On 5 December, students in Dr. Arrington’s War Writing class (IRIS326 ENGL488) visited Western Approaches, Liverpool’s Second World War Museum, housed in the top-secret bunker under Derby House from which Admiral Max Horton, Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy, won the Battle of the Atlantic. One student, a native of Liverpool, commented, “I had no idea it was even here!”


London and Economic Migration

Posted on: 13 November 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

University of Liverpool in London

During a recent two-week stay in London organised and funded by the Department of Histories, Languages and Cultures, a group of undergraduates, including Lewis Braithwaite, tackled the topic of economic migration to the capital. They approached the subject from various perspectives, and Lewis focused on ‘the Irish experience’ in the twentieth century.


Refugees and forced displacement in Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles

Posted on: 2 October 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Black and white photo of people unpacking belongings

My research, funded by the 2017/18 Busteed Postdoctoral Scholarship at the Institute of Irish Studies, sheds light on the often-overlooked experiences of people who suffered displacement during the Northern Ireland conflict.


Searching for Gerard Keenan

Posted on: 10 July 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Patrick Kavanagh

Kavanagh’s Weekly is arguably the closest literary approximation to a barroom brawl ever put to print. When I first saw the name of Gerard Keenan in its pages, the feeling was akin to the sensation of the corner-eye-sighting of a reflection in a dusty mirror.


Oklahoma, James Joyce and 'The Book of Days'

Posted on: 14 June 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Oklahoma sign

16 June is Bloomsday, celebrating 16 June 1904, the date depicted in James Joyce’s novel, 'Ulysses'. PhD student, Liss Farrell is researching the brother relationship in James Joyce’s 'Finnegans Wake'. Interested in the interplay between Joyce’s real-life relationship with his brother Stanislaus and the Wake, Liss travelled to the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma to read his diary: ‘The Book of Days’.


Four things to see and do in Liverpool if you're interested in Irish history and culture

Posted on: 11 June 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Invisible Wind Factory gig space

With Summer now upon us, you might be looking for things to do in Merseyside before the start of the new term (trust us, this will come around very quickly!). While teaching may be over until September, there’s still plenty of things to see and do in Liverpool if you're interested in Irish history and culture - from museum trails to live poetry:


Shame, stigma, and the abortion debate in Ireland

Posted on: 24 May 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Logos

Exploring the stigma and shame surrounding abortion in Ireland, Masters student Rebecca Boast looks at both sites of the debate, in the lead up to Ireland's referendum.


"Building a people’s peace" - Nichola Mallon, deputy leader of the SDLP

Posted on: 30 April 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Women holding a cooking pot

This guest blog by Nichola Mallon, deputy leader of the SDLP and former Lord Mayor of Belfast (2014-2015), looks at the challenges facing the city of Belfast and the progress that has been made, influenced by the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.


On the streets of Belfast: entering the “everydayness of violence”

Posted on: 20 April 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Alley in Belfast

This guest blog by photographer Chad Alexander, who was born in 1990, reveals his experiences capturing images of Belfast and life in the city after the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.


Hidden histories - the role of women in Irish War history

Posted on: 13 June 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Dead Man's Penny

Ailbhe McDaid, PhD and Busteed Postdoctoral Research Fellow, gives us an insight into her research 'Women and War: conflict, bereavement and Irish cultural memory, 1914-2018’.


Colm Tóibín on Liverpool, Brooklyn and using memories in his work

Posted on: 31 October 2016 | Category: 2016 posts

Colm Tóibín portrait photo.

Celebrated writer Colm Tóibín kicked off the final day of our inaugural Liverpool Literary Festival 2016. Find out his thoughts on Liverpool, his novel 'Brooklyn' and how he pieces together his work, in this exclusive video interview.


James Joyce: novelist or poet?

Posted on: 5 October 2016 | Category: 2016 posts

Portrait photograph of James Joyce

James Joyce is often better known for his influential novels, such as 'Finnegans Wake', but for National Poetry Day we wanted to delve into Joyce's poetry.


Top six reasons to study Irish Studies at University of Liverpool

Posted on: 20 September 2016 | Category: 2016 posts

Snow Patrol onstage in Holland.

Why come to University of Liverpool for your Irish Studies degree? Here are our top six reasons:


A handy guide to our 2016 Open Days

Posted on: 16 September 2016 | Category: 2016 posts

University of Liverpool -  Your open day journey

An open day is a great opportunity to meet with your future lecturers and current students, who can give you a unique insight into your course, the University and Liverpool itself. So here's our handy guide to some of the highlights of our open days - join us on on Saturday 24 September and Saturday 8 October 2016.