Dr Claire Connolly, Research Networks and Workshops
Ireland and Wales share a common Celtic heritage stretching back over 2000 years yet have become two very different countries, in particular due to differences in religion and industrialisation. They remain linked in many ways, however, and a major research network is encouraging academics throughout Europe and elsewhere to reflect on these links and divergences.
The Wales-Ireland Research Network was set up in 2007 with AHRC funding, and aims to promote innovative new interdisciplinary research into the creative, cultural and political relationships between Wales and Ireland. It focuses on the literature and history of the two countries, but includes academics working in a plethora of different disciplines. The network is a collaborative project managed by Dr Claire Connolly & Dr Katie Gramich of Cardiff University and Dr Paul O’Leary of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and supports researchers from many other institutions.
Since the beginning of the project in late 2007 the network has hosted a string of symposiums, seminars and public events which have brought together academics, along with the public, to study issues ranging from national identity in Wales and Ireland to the impact of romanticism on both countries.
The network attracted particular attention in September 2009, when it hosted an event at which Paul Murphy MP gave a public lecture. A former Secretary of State for both Wales and Northern Ireland, who played a key role in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Paul Murphy described his own experiences in Ireland and Wales and laid out his perspective on Welsh-Irish connections. “People now look at these issues... across the old, traditional academic divide,” he said.
The Wales-Ireland Research Network has secured further funding from various other organisations including Culture Ireland and the Irish Embassy in London. It continues to inspire a range of exciting projects, such as a forthcoming new edition of the Welsh author Menna Gallie’s 1970 novel ‘You’re Welcome to Ulster.’ Now out of print in the UK, the book tells the parallel stories of the Welsh and Irish nationalist movements.
The network has also seen great interest and participation outside the UK and Ireland. It has recently become linked with the Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms (SPIN), a Europe-wide facility for comparative research into nationalism in Europe. And two members of the team will give plenary lectures on the project at a prestigious international conference on Welsh studies in Washington D.C., hosted by the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History (NAASWCH), in July this year.
With successes such as these to build upon, it is hoped that the network will continue to foster high-quality collaborative research into the many links between Wales and Ireland.
For more information on the Wales-Ireland Research Network, visit Cardiff University's website.