"research" blog posts
‘2020 has given us a new perspective. We need hope’ — the world and home with artist Paul Doran
This month, Outreach Officer Maev McDaid met with Irish artist Paul Doran, who is enjoying great success with his contemporary abstract art exhibitions.
Posted on: 18 September 2020
Historian and journalist Dan Finn talks to the Institute of Irish Studies
Dan Finn is an Irish historian and journalist who works as features editor for Jacobin magazine. He joined Maev McDaid from the Institute of Irish Studies to talk about his book and reflect on some of the ideas around commemoration and national identity. You can watch the full video below and comment your thoughts on the discussion on Twitter: @irishinstitute.
Posted on: 15 September 2020
The Letters of John McGahern and the Undergraduate Research Scheme
The Undergraduate Research Scheme gave students Lauren Price and Richard Snowden-Leak the opportunity to work closely for a two week period with Professor Frank Shovlin of the Institute of Irish Studies on his major project, The Letters of John McGahern, providing them with a more intimate insight into one of Ireland’s most important literary figures.
Posted on: 23 July 2020
Emmeline Pankhurst: A Women's History Month Special
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.
Posted on: 6 March 2020
Watch: Mary Robinson discusses women's leadership and climate change
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.
Posted on: 23 January 2020
How the Institute’s “Agreement” exhibition came about (Ken Bartley, ArtisAnn Gallery)
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.
Posted on: 29 November 2019
Watch the Inaugural Seamus Heaney Lecture
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).
Posted on: 31 October 2019
Professor Frank Shovlin visits the University of Notre Dame, USA
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.
Posted on: 15 October 2019
Viking Wirral on Wheels Bike Tour
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.
Posted on: 16 September 2019
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Women and military power in the tenth century
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.
Posted on: 30 May 2019
Irish Studies students visit Western Approaches War Museum
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!”
Posted on: 10 December 2018
Viking zombies and how to kill them
Viking expert and senior lecturer in Irish Studies, Dr Clare Downham, tells us some gruesome tales about viking zombies and explains what these stories might mean and how they compare to contemporary representations of the undead.
Posted on: 27 October 2017
Terror and the Troubles in English popular memory
There is something decidedly uncanny about the emotionally charged aftermaths of the recent terrorist atrocities committed in the Manchester Arena and London Bridge. While journalists and broadcasters, politicians and police chiefs exclaim the unprecedented nature of the attacks, there is a strange familiarity about the widespread invocation of a redemptive ‘blitz spirit,’ calls for tighter security, and of course, the popular attacks on a minority population associated with the terrorists by ethnic designation.
Posted on: 4 August 2017
Hidden histories - the role of women in Irish War history
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’.
Posted on: 13 June 2017
Stakeknife - The Spy in the IRA.
Irish Studies PhD Candidate Dean Farquhar discusses the BBC Panorama episode 'Stakeknife'.
Posted on: 18 April 2017
From Guns to Government: Martin McGuinness, IRA volunteer and Deputy First Minster of Northern Ireland
Irish republicanism expert Dr Kevin Bean traces the journey of Martin McGuinness from IRA volunteer to Deputy First Minster of Northern Ireland.
Posted on: 22 March 2017
How do people across the world celebrate St Patrick's Day?
Dubai. Montserrat. Croatia. Taiwan. Canada. Huddersfield. A diverse list, united by a common factor: at some point during the week around 17 March, each of these places will somehow celebrate the feast day of St Patrick.
Posted on: 17 March 2017