irish and celtic studies research institute - University of Ulster

funded by the British Academy and the Conference was attended by colleagues
from our partner institution in the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and by
colleagues from JNU, New Delhi. Conference was officially opened by Lord Rana,
Consul General of India in Northern Ireland, who also launched a new Indo-Irish
Literary and Philological Society, brainchild of Professors Mac Mathúna and Welch
of Ulster and Professor Kapoor of JNU. After the conference workshops were
held between UU and JNU staff on a forthcoming Irish-Indian Anthology of writing
which is to be published in 2009/10. Thanks to Toni Patton, the Secretary of the
Institute, for excellent administrative assistance under difficult circumstances.
Other conferences included the very successful Éigse Cholm Cille on ‘The Flight
of the Earls’ which was held on 2-3 March 2007 at the Magee campus to mark
the four hundredth anniversary of this cataclysmic event in Irish history. I should
say here in passing that the use of the word ‘Flight’ to describe this event is not
in fact appropriate as it was the intention of those who left at the time to return
with assistance from continental allies. In any case, the Éigse was addressed by a
distinguished panel of speakers convened by Dr Éamonn Ó Ciardha. The chair of
conference was Professor Ó Corráin. Dr Smith, who convened the 2005 Éigse
on the writings of Professor Monsignor Breandán Ó Doibhlin, was Acting Head
of Irish at the Magee campus while Professor Ó Corráin was on study leave, also
made an important contribution.The Proceedings of the previous Éigse on the
work of Monsignor Ó Doibhlin were successfully launched at the conference.
An interdisciplinary conference, in partnership with UCD and supported by
Iomairt Cholm Cille and the Government of Nova Scotia, was held on the
Belfast campus in April 2007 on ‘Bho chuan gu cuan: Scottish Gaelic in Canada’.
The convenor was RCUK Fellow Iain Mac a’ Phearsain. The world premiere of
Ìompaireachd nan Gaedheal (‘The Empire of the Gaels’) on Scottish Gaels in
Canada, scripted and presented by Iain, took place at the conference and was a
truly excellent piece of work. Congratulations to Iain on a great achievement. A
number of members of the Institute also attended and delivered lectures at the
International Congress for Celtic Studies held in Bonn between 23 and 27 July.
Congratulations to Professor Ó Corráin who was appointed to the Committee
of Congress.
In addition to the Institute’s very successful research seminar series, it also
hosted two Visiting Scholars from UCD, Professors Séamas Ó Catháin and
Seosamh Watson, both of whom delivered a series of lectures and were involved
in developing collaborative research projects with members of the Institute.
The Institute was happy to welcome a number of new staff to the subject area:
Nóilín Nic Bhloscaidh was appointed to a lectureship at the Belfast campus. She
joins Dr Art Hughes, who continues to play a central role in the teaching and
development of Irish on the campus and in the city in general, and Dr Nioclás
Mac Cathmhaoil, another recently appointed lecturer. Máire Nic Cathmhaoil
transferred from Belfast to take up a lectureship at the Magee campus.
Recently appointed lecturers at Coleraine, Dr Fionntán de Brún and Dr Iwan
Wmffre, are settling in very well and making important contributions to the
work of the Institute and the subject. Dr de Brún’s Belfast and the Irish Language
(Dublin, Four Courts Press 2006) was launched by Professor Breandán Ó
Buachalla in Dublin in 2006, and a very fine exhibition on Irish in Belfast in the
Ulster Museum was organized by Dr de Brún and his colleague, Dr Phoenix. Dr
Wmffre’s research on Welsh and Breton language and place-names has added a
new scholarly dimension to the work of the Institute. Dr Caoimhín Ó Dónaill,
Language Technologist in the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning,
not only teaches in the subject area of Irish and Celtic, he also researches and
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