UCD John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies

Mission

Eighty million people around the world identify themselves in some way with Ireland and with Irishness.

Named in honour of the politician and Nobel Laureate John Hume, the mission of the UCD John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies is to

Engage, connect and develop this diverse global community as an active social network of global citizens

Engage with the past, the present and the future of Ireland and the Irish

Connect the Irish in Ireland and the global Diaspora as an active community

Capture and map the global Irish community

Explore new directions in the study of Ireland and the Irish

Apply specific learning outcomes from thematic areas into wider contexts such as conflict resolution, interculturalism, integration and development

Funding

The Institute received €2.6 million under PRTLI Cycle 4 for programme funding. The Institute is a member of the Humanities Serving Irish Society consortium headed by the Royal Irish Academy. The Digital Humanities Observatory is a core project of the consortium.

Staffing

Current staffing includes the Institute Director 4 Pis and 4 additional associated research staff together with five funded post doctoral research staff and six PhD students. A further six PhD students are currently being recruited. The Institute’s Director is Dr. Brian Jackson (brian.jackson@ucd.ie),

Programme

The PRTLI4 funded programme entitled, “Transforming the Study of Ireland and its diaspora” consists of four core research strands:

Footprints of Ireland:heritage and landscape;
Irish Identities from the Seventeenth Century: cultural and linguistic expression;
State and Society: historical development and contemporary challenges;
The Irish experience of conflict resolution in a British-Irish, European and global context.

Specific Research Themes: Postdoctoral

Natives, migrants or colonisers? Investigating Ireland’s agricultural origins in their European context
The effects of transformed family and kinship structures on Irish identity in Irish communities in early modern Europe and in Ireland
Taking up the torch: Alice Milligan and the Irish Cultural Revival
Institutional design in post conflict Northern Ireland and political participation of new communities

Specific Research Themes: Doctoral

The Intellectual and Cultural Mentality of the Irish Soldiers in Spanish Military Service during the 17th Century
In Tírechán’s Footprints: The Archaeology of the early medieval Collectanea
Consuming Culture in the Early modern Household: An Archaeology of Capitalism in Ireland 1600-1800
Crossing Borders: Gender and Identity in Conflict and peace processes: Ciapas, South Africa and Northern Ireland
Anti-civilian violence and democratic constitutionalism: the cases of Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestine and Sri Lanka’
Dominant ethnicities in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Israel: Revisiting ‘God’s People’
National Identity in divided societies. Reasons, functions evolutions and effects. Violence and peace process in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country