'Irish Lives in America', edited by Liz Evers and Niav Gallagher, documents fifty Irish people featured in the Dictionary of Irish Biography who made an indelible mark on American society, politics and culture. The book was launched by Neville Isdell on 24 November at 6.30 p.m. at EPIC the Irish Emigration Museum. The launch is followed by a panel discussion 'Irish Lives in America: underdogs or overlords?' chaired by Patrick Geoghegan and featuring Miriam Nyhan Grey, Diane Negra, Neville Isdell...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 7 min
In this new series of four podcasts host Gill Plunkett explores the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland'. We talk about hunter gatherers, disease, poetry, weather events and consider our future vulnerabilities. In episode 1, John Sweeney considers the challenging interaction between climate and society from the nineteenth century to the present, arguing that while throughout most of its history, Irish society was a prisoner of climate as med...
Nov 24, 2021•45 min
In episode 5 of Shelfmarks Zoë explores the myth of Cessair and Fintan mac Bochra from the Leabhar Gabhála (The Book of Invasions / The Book of the Taking of Ireland). In the myth Cessair is the grand-daughter of Noah and daughter of Bith. Bith is refused passage on The Ark and so Cessair builds three ships to seek out a new land. Each ship is crewed by fifty women. During the seven year journey two of the ships sink but the third containing Cessair, fifty women, her husband Fintan, her father B...
Nov 19, 2021•37 min
Host Gill Plunkett introduces a new series of four podcasts exploring the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland', a collection of essays commissioned by the Royal Irish Academy. 'Climate and Society in Ireland' provides a multi-period, interdisciplinary perspective on one of the most important challenges currently facing humanity. Combining syntheses of existing knowledge with new insights and approaches, contributors explore the varied enviro...
Nov 15, 2021•46 sec
This week on Shelfmarks imaginary islands, real books and Manchán Magan on the magical in betweenness of Irish. The Royal Irish Academy holds the most important collection of Irish language manuscripts in the country and more specifically it holds medical manuscripts - 6000 thousand pages across 30 different textbooks. One of these medical books is called the Book of O’Lees or Book of Hybrasil. This week Zoë relays the origin of the book of O’Less and Manchán Magan reads two specially commission...
Nov 05, 2021•34 min
In this episode, Gladys Ganiel and Philip McDonagh discuss church leaders' contributions to public debates about a post-Brexit island. You can read Gladys Ganiel's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.47 Philip McDonagh's response can be found at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.52 Gladys Ganiel is reader in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast. Philip McDonagh ...
Nov 04, 2021•38 min
In this bonus episode of Shelfmarks, guest writer Conor W. O'Brien reads a short piece on the wolf in Ireland. Shelfmarks is a podcast by the Royal Irish Academy podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Every other week Zoë will sift through the Academy collection for Shelfmarks (biographies, manuscripts, books and reference from the collection) and invite a guest writer to discuss their own relationship with the natural world. Each writer has been specially commissioned to write pieces exploring thei...
Oct 29, 2021•5 min
This week on Shelfmarks Zoë Comyns tries to get a sense of the immense work done by Robert Lloyd Praeger. From his early days in Co. Down, tramping through the Mourne Mountains to the thousands of miles he walked across Ireland studying botanics, to his contribution to 800 publications and his 24 books RL Praeger is probably considered Ireland’s most influential naturalist. Zoë’s guest this week on Shelfmarks is poet Jane Clarke. Jane grew up in Co Roscommon and came to writing after a career in...
Oct 22, 2021•35 min
In this bonus episode of Shelfmarks, Zoë Comyns chats to guest writers Niall and Christine about their own relationship with their garden and nature. Shelfmarks is a podcast by the Royal Irish Academy podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Every other week Zoë will sift through the Academy collection for Shelfmarks (biographies, manuscripts, books and reference from the collection) and invite a guest writer to discuss their own relationship with the natural world. Each writer has been specially comm...
Oct 15, 2021•11 min
In this week's episode, podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns delves into the life of Cynthia Longfield and spends time with writer Amanda Bell in her Mayo garden. Cynthia Longfield (1896–1991) was an entomologist, specialising in dragonflies (Odonata). She was part of the St George Expedition that sailed to the Pacific in 1924. Her collection of memorabilia from the 1924 St George expedition is held by the Academy Library, and includes personal diaries, news-cuttings, albums of photographs and her ...
Oct 08, 2021•34 min
In this Podcast, Megan Brien, historian of design and interior architecture, explores the history of the turret clock in the Clocktower building at Grangegorman on the northside of Dublin’s city centre. With horologists Julian Cosby and David Boles, Megan reveals the unique features of this extraordinary timepiece: the oldest known flat-bed clock in the world. Grangegorman Histories is a public history project of Dublin City Council, Grangegorman Development Agency, HSE, Local Communities, Natio...
Oct 07, 2021•44 min
In this episode, John Doyle and John FitzGerald discuss the subject of the UK financial ‘subvention’ to Northern Ireland, which has been dominating the public debate on the economics of a united Ireland. You can read John Doyle's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.30 John Doyle is the Director of the Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction at Dublin City University. John FitzGerald, MRIA, is the form...
Oct 07, 2021•41 min
In this first episode of Shelfmarks Zoë Comyns looks at an expedition to Rockall off the north-east coast of Donegal funded by the Royal Irish Academy in 1896. The island is extremely remote and poor weather conditions meant it was impossible to land on Rockall. The crew of geologists, naturalists and biologists did collect dredge samples and bird specimens. This programme evokes his journey and the sense of discovery. One of those on board was RIA member R.M. Barrington, whose interest in birds...
Sep 23, 2021•36 min
Shelfmarks is a podcast by our podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Zoë has spent time looking through the collections and library holdings in the Academy to explore how people have written about and observed our natural world over the centuries. In this Culture Night special to start the series Zoë explores nature writing as it was when the Royal Irish Academy opened in 1785 to now, and how its focus has changed over the centuries. We’re going to hear a little history about some of the texts in t...
Sep 17, 2021•1 hr 8 min
In this episode, Christopher McCrudden and Oran Doyle explore the legal constraints or soft-law guidelines that are relevant to the franchise in the north and in the south, potential issues that arise from tensions between the two franchises, and possible resolutions. You can read their paper, co-authored with David Kenny, as it appeared in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.18 Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law at Qu...
Sep 02, 2021•38 min
In the final episode of this series, Professor of Immunology Christine Loscher discusses the vaccine rollout and answers questions on vaccines for teens, booster shots and more. As we reach 70 percent of the population of Ireland vaccinated against COVID-19, host Dick Ahlstrom chats to immunologist Professor Christine Loscher about how Ireland has performed in terms of its vaccination programme, what we have learned about the virus and about vaccines over the last year and what’s new in terms of...
Jul 30, 2021•38 min
In Vaccine Questions Ep 7 behavioural economist, Professor Pete Lunn shares expert insights on how our behaviour impacts the spread of the COVI19 and what drives this behaviour. Pete is head of the Economic and Social Research Institute's Behavioural Research Unit and a member of a subgroup that advises NPHET on public response to the pandemic. He tells Dick what questions this group has asked about public behaviour in the pandemic, and shares some of the surprising answers this research has rev...
Jul 05, 2021•38 min
In this episode Adele Bergin and Seamus McGuinness reflect on cross-border differences in living standards, opportunities and quality of life on the island of Ireland. So, who is better off? You can read their paper, as it appeared in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.12 Adele Bergin is Associate Research Professor at the Economic & Social Research Institute, Dublin. Seamus McGuinness is Research Professor at the Economic & Social Research I...
Jul 01, 2021•34 min
Chief Bioethics Officer at the Department of Health, Dr Siobhán O’Sullivan talks about the difficult decisions officials and individuals must grapple with in this pandemic and the values and principles which underpin them. While science plays a vital role in informing decisions such as prioritisation for vaccination, these decisions are not made in a vacuum. They impact on all our lives and require assessment of legal, socio-economic factors, and judgements about what is right and wrong and what...
Jun 11, 2021•33 min
In this episode, Deirdre Heenan and Anne Matthews delve into how cross-border cooperation relating to health between Ireland and Northern Ireland really works. What collaborations are working? How did health co-operation really work during the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the best parts of each system? Does politics stand in the way of citizens' health? How could health outcomes for everyone on the island be improved? You can read Deirdre Heenan's paper at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.10...
Jun 03, 2021•38 min
In this podcast series host Rory Montgomery talks to ARINS authors about their analysis of the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south, post-Brexit. ARINS, Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com.
Jun 02, 2021•3 min
In episode five Dick chats to Professor Jane Suiter, Director of the Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society at DCU about what drives the spread of disinformation and how it can undermine vaccination programmes. What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation and are they the same thing as fake news? Dick asks Jane to explain what these terms mean and they discuss the evolution of disinformation, what drives it, and what makes people susceptible to it. Jane also outlin...
May 21, 2021•34 min
Emer Cooke, Head of the European Medicines Agency explains its role in assessing and authorising COVID19 vaccines, and Dick asks why should we trust the EMA to ensure that all the vaccines we receive are safe and reliable? COVID19 vaccines can only become available to us here in Ireland once they are authorised by the European Commission following evaluation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In this episode, host Dick Ahlstrom talks to Emer Cooke, an Irish pharmacist who took on the role o...
Apr 20, 2021•28 min
The fifth in the series of the History of Emotions Podcasts 'From grief to wonder: Exploring emotions in Irish History' examines the intersection between emotions, space and place in the context of Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Established in 1832 Glasnevin Cemetery is still in operation today and has always been committed to burying the dead of ‘all religions and none’. As Ireland’s first non-sectarian burial site, it has emerged to become an iconic commemorative and heritage space at the outsk...
Apr 16, 2021•10 min
This the forth of six podcast explores revolutionary solidarity among Irish and other international radicals as a feeling of belonging: 'Belonging: feeling solidarity in the interwar world', Dr Maurice Casey This emotional experience is traced through a series of radical spaces that shaped the lives of socialists and communists in the 1920s and 1930s; the border between Soviet Russia and the wider world, the public meeting and the prison cell. Paying attention to the feeling of belonging that ac...
Apr 09, 2021•10 min
History of Emotions Podcasts. No.3 in the Series 'From grief to wonder: Exploring emotions in Irish History' Illan works on questions of protest, public order and critical legal theory. His latest book is Law & Disorder: Sovereignty, Protest, Atmosphere is published by Routledge. The book focuses on the moment when social unrest takes hold of a populace, bringing the state structures of government and sovereignty into question. It develops the idea that moods, atmospheres, affects and public...
Apr 01, 2021•12 min
Dr Lucy Jessop is Director of Public Health at the National Immunisation Office. In this episode she explains when, where and how people will get their vaccination shots, and answers lots of your questions around what side effects to expect. Here's the link to a factsheet on vaccination for pregnant and breastfeeding women: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/covid19vaccineinfo4hps/qaiogniac.pdf This series is organised by the Life and Medical Sciences Committee in partnership wit...
Mar 29, 2021•19 min
This, the second of six podcasts deals with the emotion of detachment. 'Detachment: The Bellfield Plantation', Finola O'Kane Crimmins MRIA. Finola O’Kane-Crimmins is Professor in Architecture at University College Dublin. Her research interests include History of Designed Landscape, Architectural and Landscape Conservation, Architectural History & Theory, Irish Social History, Architectural and Spatial Pedagogy.
Mar 26, 2021•10 min
The first podcast introducing the series is by Associate Professor Katie Barclay, University of Adelaide whose brief keynote provides an overview of the study of the history of emotions. Each week we will be releasing a new podcast covering a range of emotions from detachment through anger, solidarity, grief and finishing with wonder and excitement. Katie Barclay is Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions and Associate Professor and Head of Department in Histor...
Mar 18, 2021•17 min
An introduction to the series. The first podcast introducing the series is by Associate Professor Katie Barclay, University of Adelaide whose brief keynote provides an overview of the study of the history of emotions. Each week we will be releasing a new podcast covering a range of emotions from detachment through anger, solidarity, grief and finishing with wonder and excitement. Katie Barclay is Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions and Associate Professor a...
Mar 18, 2021•13 sec
