Research

Research Profiles

Doctoral Research in Irish Studies

Doctoral research in Irish Studies at NUI Galway requires an interdisciplinary approach to key junctions and issues in the historical, cultural and social development of modern and contemporary Ireland.  The Centre for Irish Studies provides a supportive environment and has an exceptional record in assisting PhD candidates to complete their theses to the highest standards in a timely fashion.

Benefits of doing your PhD at the Centre for Irish Studies

• The postgraduate research group Meitheal enables students to present work in progress to their peers 
• The Centre also offers support for doctoral students to give papers at academic conferences in Ireland and overseas
• Provide training in research methodologies
• The Irish Studies Seminar Series and occasional public lectures in Irish Studies provide further opportunities for graduate students to engage with distinguished visiting scholars whose expertise coincides with their own research interests

Applications are especially welcome in the following areas

• Twentieth-century Irish writing, in Irish and in English; translation studies, with particular emphasis on translation from Irish to English; modern and contemporary critical discourse in Irish
• Sense of place and Irish culture and writing; Irish literary geographies; Irish place studies; philosophies of space and place; Irish historical cartography; colonial and postcolonial geographies
• Emigration and Irish traditional music; popular music in Ireland; performance studies and Irish music practice; cultural revivalism; anthropology of music.

Meitheal 

Meitheal, the Irish Studies Postgraduate Research Group, is led by graduate students and meets throughout the academic year. Initiated in 2004, and open to students and academic staff, Meitheal has developed into a dynamic, interdisciplinary forum, and is now an essential part of the intellectual life of the Centre.   The format allows for presentation of current research, close readings of key texts and discussion of dissertation drafts.

CURRENT DOCTORAL RESEARCH

1. Nuala Ní Fhlathúin, (Hardiman Scholar, NUI Galway), ‘Reframing the Gaeltacht? Language, Identity and Visual Art Practice (1995-2018)’. Supervisor, Dr Nessa Cronin.
2. Rachel Andrews, ‘Landscapes of Memory: A Psychogeographical and Ecocritical Investigation of Unmarked Burial sites in the Irish collective memory and culture’. Supervisor, Dr Nessa Cronin. Email:  R.Andrews1@universityofgalway.ie
3. Margaret Úna Kavanagh, ‘Empire, Science and Gender: The life and work of Lady Clonbrock, Augusta Dillon née Crofton (1839-1928) supported by images from the Clonbrock Photograph Collection’. Supervisor, Dr Nessa Cronin.  Email:  m.kavanagh13@nuigalway.ie
4. Morgan Mayo, Lace and Mules: Irish Travellers and the Rural Economic Networks of 19^th and 20^th Century Rural America.  Supervisor, Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin.  Email:  m.mayo2@nuigalway.ie
5. Audrey Walsh, 'A Cultural History of Botanical Art and Science in Ireland 1750 – 1950'.  Supervisor, Dr Nessa Cronin.  Email:  a.walshe5@nuigalway.ie
6. Gabrielle Machnik-Kekesi, The lean and hungry look: Food in mid-century Irish women’s fiction writing. Supervisor, Dr Nessa Cronin.  Funding: Hardiman Research Scholarship (2021-2025). Email: g.machnik-kekesi2@universityofgalway.ie 
7. John Brady, 'Little grocers' republic': economic stagnation, structures of feeling and the place of the provincial town in post-independence Irish fiction. Funding source:   Supervisor:  An tOllamh Louis de Paor. Funding source:  Centre for Irish Studies Postgraduate Fellowship. Email: j.brady3@universityofgalway.ie
8. Teresa Dunne, Supervisor: Dr Nessa Cronin.  Email:  t.dunne5@nuigalway.ie
9. Marianne Ní Chinnéide, Léiritheoireacht na Dramaíochta Ghaeilge: Irish language theatre as an ecology of connection and dislocation.  Supervisor: Dr. Nessa Cronin and Dr. Verena Commins.  Funding source:  FEP funding, University of Galway.  Email:  marianne.nichinneide@universityofgalway.ie
10. Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha, Dubh, Geal, Riabhach: An Nádúr i Luathfhilíocht Bhiddy Jenkinson.  Supervisor: An tOllamh Rióna Ní Fhrighil (Roinn na Gaeilge); An tOllamh Louis de Paor (Ionad Léann na hÉireann).  Funding source: Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship.  Email address: l.nichoistealbha1@universityofgalway.ie

11. Clare Robinson,  The ‘Fleshly’ Body in Contemporary Horror Podcasts.  Supervisor: Muireann O’Cinneide.  Funding source: The Centre for Irish Studies Postgraduate Fellowship.  Email address: c.robinson7@universityofgalway.ie

PHD GRADUATES

Dr Seán Crosson, ’The Given Note’: The Influence and Use of Traditional Music and Song in Modern Irish Poetry
Supervisor:  Dr Louis de Paor 
External examiner:  An tOllamh Alan Titley, UCC.  2006

Dr Nessa Cronin, The Eye of History:  Spatiality and Colonial Cartography in Ireland
Supervisor:  Professor Tadhg Foley 
External examiner:  Professor William J. Smith, UCC.  2007

Dr John Eastlake, Native American and Irish Native Autobiography:  A Comparative Study
Supervisor:  Dr Louis de Paor 
External examiner:  Professor Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, University of Notre Dame.  2008   

Dr Elizabeth Ball, Representing Bloody Sunday: Comparing Docudrama and Public Inquiry as Historical Representations
Supervisor:  Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh
External examiner:  Professor Paul Arthur, University of Ulster.  2010

Dr David Doyle, Sexual Crime and the Formulation of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1935:  A Quantitative, Historical and Legislative Analysis
Supervisor:  Dr Caitríona Clear 
External examiner:  Dr Senia Paseta, University of Oxford.  2010        

Dr Leo Keohane, Captain Jack White DSO (1879-1946):  A Study of His Politics and Philosophy, with Special Reference to the Period 1912-1922
Supervisor:  Professor Tadhg Foley  
External examiner:  Dr Emmet O’Connor, University of Ulster.  2011   

Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann: Shaping Tradition 1951-1971 
Supervisor:  An tOllamh Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh
External examiner:  Professor  Harry White, UCD.  2011  

Dr Claire Lyons, Sylvester O’Halloran’s General History (1788):  Irish Historiography and the late Eighteenth-Century British Empire.
Supervisor:  Dr Niall Ó Ciosáin  
External examiner:  Professor Joep Leerssen, University of Amsterdam.  2012

Margaret Brehony, Irish Migration to Cuba, 1835-1844 
Supervisor:  Dr Katherine Powell
External examiner:  Professor Antoni Kapcia, University of Nottingham. 2012

Tim Collins, Beyond the Local: Redefining Regionalism in the Traditional Music of Sliabh Aughty and its Diaspora
Supervisor:  Dr Lillis Ó Laoire
External examiner:  Dr Mick Moloney, New York University, 2013

Debora Biancheri, Italian ’readings’ of Ireland: Cultural Implications of Literary Translation Practice
Supervisor:   Dr Louis de Paor
External Examiner:  Prof Susan Bassnett, University of Warwick, 2013

Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, The French Connection: The Gaelic League and France, 1893-1922
Supervisor:   Dr Louis de Paor
External examiner:  Prof Phil O'Leary, Boston College, 2013

Verena Commins, Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy: A New Context for the Transmission, Commemoration and Performance of Irish Traditional Music.  Supervisor:   Dr Lillis Ó Laoire
External examiner:  Dr Mick Moloney, New York University, 2014

Jenny McCarthy, Jack B Yeats and John Sloan: Ireland and America, 1910-1916
Supervisor:  Professor Tadhg Foley

Rita O’Donoghue, Fios na mBan: The Role of Women in the Funerary Customs of Erris in the Post-famine Era. Supervisor:  Dr Lillis Ó Laoire

Thomas Fisher, Mapping ’Iron Roads’: Cultural Landscapes of the Irish Railway System, 1834-c.1900.  Supervisor:  Dr Nessa Cronin

Frank Conlon, Industrial Development in Ireland, 1922-1939. Supervisor:  Dr Aidan Kane

Ciaran McDonough, Investigating Irish Antiquarianism: A Comparative Study of Protestant and Catholic Antiquarian Cultures, 1785-1886.  Supervisor:  An tOllamh Nollaig Ó Muraíle.  2017

Fionnuala Ní Ráinne, Aistriú an Spioraid Chruthaithigh: Grinnstaidéar ar Aistriúchán an Ghearrscéil ó Ghaeilge go Béarla, 1907 – 1999.  Supervisor:   Dr Louis de Paor.  2017

Jeannine Kraft,  ‘Landscape Legacies: The Renegotiation of the Irish West in Contemporary Visual Culture’.  Supervisor:  Dr Nessa Cronin. 2019.

Sara Hanafin, Coming ’home’: Place, Identity and Second Generation Return Migration from Britain
Supervisor:   Dr Mary Cawley.  2019

Eoin Byrne,  "A kind of mime: Cultural politics and narrative experiment in the works of Samuel Beckett, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, and Brian Ó Nualláin".  Supervisor:  An tOllamh Louis de Paor.  2020

Síobhra Aiken, '"Ridding Ourselves of the Past": Trauma, Testimony and the Irish Civil War'.  Supervisor:  An tOllamh Louis de Paor.  2020

Michael Lydon, "Haunting Noises: Irish Popular Music and the Digital Era".  Supervisor:  Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin.  2020

Malachy Egan, 'A New Model: Seán Ó Riada, Ceoltóirí Cualann and Irish Traditional Music',   Supervisor:  Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin. 2020.

Rory McCabe, (IRC Scholar) ‘"Will you meet me on Clare Island?”: Music-making, identity and ethnography in a small-island community’.  Supervisor:  Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin. 2021.

Anna Falkenau, (Freyer-Hardiman Scholarship),  '‘It was in the Air’: Micro and Macro Flows in the Changing Soundscape of Irish Traditional Music in Galway, 1961-1981'  Supervisor:  Dr Méabh Ní  Fhuartháin.  2024

Martina Hynan, (NUI Galway Doctoral Scholar), ‘On the Wisp’: Rethinking Birthplace for a More-Than-Human World'. Supervisor, Dr Nessa Cronin.  2024

Maria Sanabria Barba, (NUI Galway Doctoral Scholar), ‘Fantastical space in the work of Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) and Wenceslao Fernández Flórez (1885-1964)’. Supervisors, Dr Nessa Cronin and Dr Muireann Ó Cinnéide (English, NUI Galway). 2024

Testimonial

“ I began my studies at the Centre for Irish Studies as a Doctoral Fellow in September 2008 and successfully completed my thesis three years later.   Although NUI Galway offers a variety of suitable venues for doctoral research, I chose the Centre of Irish Studies because of the interdisciplinary nature of my project.  The Centre also has a well-deserved reputation for academic excellence and this is supported by the atmosphere of generosity and availability which permeates the Centre at all levels, providing that small oasis of calm and support so necessary as you pursue the sometimes daunting, but always challenging, doctoral dissertation.”  - Dr Claire Lyons