Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies

Our spring 2026 seminar series programme is here! We'll be adding eventbrite links soon so you can join us online or in person - all are welcome! First up we have Neil Murphy on 19 February at 6pm. Neil will speak on 'Violence, colonialism and the mid-Tudor monarchy: Ireland in context'.

Are you an early career researcher in Irish Studies? Share your ideas and thoughts with the EFACIS PhD Representatives at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... More information at www.efacis.eu/content/efac... @aedei.bsky.social @sofeir.bsky.social @bairishstudies.bsky.social

Thank you so much to last night's speakers @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social @tomhulme.bsky.social @niallherron.bsky.social for a brilliant panel on New Approaches to Sexuality in Ulster. As one audience member noted, each paper challenged assumptions about Queer History in new ways!

Just a quick update on this - unfortunately Páraic is unable to join us for the panel BUT we're delighted that @niallherron.bsky.social will be stepping in to join Tom and Mary!

For those who weren’t able to attend a video of the ‘Women in Revolution‘ webinar is now live on YouTube (link below). Many thanks to @janeohlmeyer.bsky.social, @earner.bsky.social, and Catriona Kennedy for taking part. Very grateful to our partners as well.

If you are at a loose end come and listen to me talk about the history of Halloween at Ulster Folk Museum, on 29 October, 2pm, ticket price gets you into museum as well! nationalmuseumsni.digitickets.co.uk/event-ticket... @usihs.bsky.social @ulsteruni.bsky.social

Please join us on Thursday at 6pm for our panel on New Approaches to the History of Sexuality! In person in 27 University Square @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social or online (register below) @tomhulme.bsky.social @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social www.ticketsource.com/ulster-socie...

Fascinating talk at the Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich Memorial Library & Archive in Armagh on Wednesday 20th May at 7.30pm on the subject of the Migration of Ulster-born soccer players by Dr Conor Curran. Looks to be a really interesting lecture.

Looking forward to Roisín's Beckett Lecture tonight! A reminder that this is an in-person event and there will be a drinks reception just before (after our AGM which is at 5pm).

Should be an excellent lecture by Prof. Roisín Higgins, Department of History @maynoothuniversity.ie

Our final Irish Studies seminar this semester will be on Monday 27 April at 4.30, when Enda Delaney will talk on 'The Cognitive Revolution in Modern Ireland, 1850-1920'. All welcome in-person or online. www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Iris...

This promises to be a great talk. Please join us on Thursday - in person or online!

Join our PhD Representatives this Friday 3 April at 10 am CET for some focused writing time and/or a casual Lunch Break! Register at us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

If you’re Belfast-based, there are paperback copies of my book already on sale in the brilliant indie shop No Alibis!

Congrats to Dr Shonagh Joice who today defended her excellent PhD dissertation on 'Resilience, Adaptability and Anxiety: Women’s experiences of shipbuilding deindustrialisation in Glasgow and Belfast, 1970-2000'.

Our next USIHS seminar will be on Thursday 5th March (next week!) when we'll welcome Antonia Hart to speak on Ulster Women in Business & Bankruptcy, 1888-1922. All welcome! www.eventbrite.ie/e/usihs-ulst...

A reminder that our first seminar of 2026 is on Thursday! Neil Murphy @northumbriauni.bsky.social will speak on 'Violence, colonialism and the mid-Tudor monarchy: Ireland in context'. If you can't join us in person @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social join online 👇 www.eventbrite.ie/e/violence-c...

Our Irish Studies seminar programme for Spring 2026 www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Iris...

Our Annual MacCurtain/Cullen prize is now open for entries. The competition is open to current or recent BA or MA/MPhil students. closing date for entries is 1 March 2026. womenshistoryassociation.com/grants-prizes/

Susan Flavin gave us a sneak peek of this film and her research last year - and it was excellent! Get along to Dublin Castle on 6 February if you can!

We are delighted this afternoon to announced the CFP for the 36th annual WHAI conference 2026. The conference will be held at Mary I Limerick on 29 & 30 May 2026. Closing dates for submissions on the theme of 'Gain' is 31 Jan. 2026. sites.google.com/view/whai202...

We are delighted to announce that we'll be hosting the SSNCI conference in Maynooth next June. Call for papers attached. Please spread far and wide!

Just a reminder that this seminar is tonight! You are very welcome to join us in person in 27 University Square, Queen's University Belfast, or online by signing up to the link below!

Our next seminar will be on 4th December when we are really looking forward to hearing Henry Jefferies speak on Irish women and the Reformation! If you'd like to join us for this (Christmassy?) talk, you can sign up for online or attend in person. More 👇 www.eventbrite.ie/e/usihs-semi...

If you missed Sophie's talk last week, just head to our website and you can catch up! @sophcocooper.bsky.social

NEW QUEER HISTORY ARTICLE from me & @charlielynch.bsky.social! muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/artic...

In a change to our planned seminar series, our next seminar will be Sophie Cooper speaking on 'Building to feel ‘at home’: Embedding/embedded memory in the built environments of Belfast and the diaspora'. Thursday 13 Nov, *online* at 7pm. @sophcocooper.bsky.social www.eventbrite.ie/e/sophie-coo...

Exciting news! Filming will soon start on a Bad Bridgets film, inspired by Elaine Farrell & Leanne McCormick's great book. We're delighted to have both Elaine & Leanne on our USIHS Committee (for many reasons, this is just today's extra one) @badbridgetbook.bsky.social deadline.com/2025/10/dais...

An important contribution on metal detecting & archaeology in England and Wales. (N.B.: Metal detecting is illegal in Ireland, & subject to fines & even imprisonment, under the National Monuments Acts) #MedievalSky 👇🏻

On Monday 17 November we'll be joined by Luca Bertolani Azeredo (Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples), who will speak on 'The Enniskillen Horse: illegality, legitimacy and the birth of Irish paramilitarism'. All welcome, in-person or online. Registration is at: www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Iris...

If you missed Seán's talk the other week, the recording is now on our website! usihs36.com

Thanks so much to Dr Seán Ó Hoireabhárd for such a fascinating (and beautifully illustrated!) paper to USIHS last night. It was an excellent way to begin this year's seminar series. The recording will be up on the website soon! @hoireabhard.bsky.social

Programme and registration is now available for the 35th Irish Conference of Historians - Inner Lives and Outer Realities. Maynooth university, 12-13 September. Please share widely.

Even historians have a history. @lisapine.bsky.social launches her new @ihr.bsky.social podcast A Historian's Life, where historians talk about the histories they’ve explored and the lives they’ve lived. Listen to series 1 now. www.history.ac.uk/podcasts/a-h...

This is a fantastic tour, highly recommend it #speirgorm #pride2025

Oein DeBhairduin's (@nmireland.bsky.social) talk 'Challenging the Narrative: Reclaiming Traveller Heritage in Ireland's National Collections' is now available to watch on our YouTube channel here: youtu.be/yhIroMkqoAw

Congratulations to Dr Ruth Duffy, @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social who is awarded an honourable mention in the Irish Historical Studies First Book Prize 2024 for her @livunipress.bsky.social book, 'Healthcare and the Troubles: the conflict experience of the Northern Ireland Health Service, 1968–1998'

The board of Irish Historical Studies are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2024 First Book Prize is @hoireabhard.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie for his book 'The Medieval Irish kings and the English invasion', published by @livunipress.bsky.social. Congratulations Seán!

Delighted that The Medieval Irish kings & the English invasion has been chosen for the IHS first book prize for 2024!

We are delighted that Dr Ruth Duffy has been awarded an honourable mention in the Irish Historical Studies First Book Prize 2024 for Healthcare and the Troubles! Congratulations, Ruth 🎉 Discover more about the book here: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

I’m delighted to be giving the J.C. Beckett lecture for the @usihs.bsky.social at PRONI in Belfast on 22 May. I’ll be talking about the history of the anti-abortion movement in Ireland, c.1972-92. Do come along if you’re in Belfast that day.

'Ti's far from it I was reared etc etc, but delighted to celebrate Jackie Hill's retirement after an uparalleled 45 years of service as secretary to the Irish Historical Studies editorial board! @irishhistsoc.bsky.social @usihs.bsky.social