Lecture & Seminar Series

Léacht de hÍde is named for Douglas Hyde, the first president and co-founder of the Gaelic League (1893), the first Professor of Irish in UCD (1909) and the first President of Ireland (1938). The underlying theme of this annual lecture series is "Leaders and Learning", highlighting leading Irish figures in society who knew the value of Irish culture, language, literature and scholarship. The lecture is held annually in UCD in collaboration with the National University of Ireland.

2019 Lecture

Léacht de hÍde 2019 was given by Douglas Hyde scholar Professor Liam Mac Mathúna (UCD):

Inaugural Lecture

In 2018, the inaugural lecture was given bilingually by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins: 'The Legacy of Douglas Hyde'. 

Nuala Sealy (Hyde's grandchild) was able to attend the inaugural lecture, making it a very special event, bringing the grandchild of the first President together with the current President - both of whom understand the wealth of heritage and culture in Irish and in UCD.

Léacht Uí Chadhain has been held annually in the School since 1980. Named in memory of writer and political activist Máirtín Ó Cadhain, the lecture seeks not only to examine the legacy of Ó Cadhain but also to explore contemporary Irish language literature.

Learn more about Máirtín Ó Cadhain at (opens in a new window)máirtínócadhain.ie 

Lecture List 1980-Today

Recordings of lectures post-2017 are hosted at Cultúr@UCD, the School's Soundcloud account, and can be played by clicking on the orange play icons where they appear below. Recordings of lectures held before 2017, where they exist, can be requested from the Multimedia Centre of the Teanglann.

Event Posters 2010-Today

Annual lecture in memory of Professor Bo Almqvist

Bo Almqvist was born in Värmland, Sweden, and studied at the University of Uppsala, where he was awarded a PhD in folklore, and in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he took the degree of Baccalaureatus Philologie Islandicae. He lived for many years in Iceland, where he taught Swedish language and literature. From 1960 until 1972, he taught folklore at the University of Uppsala, acting as head of department there from 1967 to 1969. He became Séamus Ó Duilearga’s successor in the Chair of Irish Folklore in University College Dublin in 1972. He paid his first visit to the Gaeltacht area on the Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry in 1957, and subsequently made very extensive collections of Irish folklore there, especially in Dún Chaoin, from Micheál Ó Gaoithín, Bab Feiritéar, and many others. His work on Irish folklore, and on Irish-Scandinavian cultural connections, established him as an outstanding scholar of international repute.

(From Viking Ale. Studies on folklore contacts between the Northern and the Western Worlds, by Bo Almqvist, edited by É. Ní Dhuibhne-Almqvist and S. Ó Catháin, Aberystwyth 1991) 

Irish Conference of Folklore and Ethnology 2017

   

This series is an exploration of Irish Folklore. Visitors are welcome to attend. Attendance is obligatory for graduate students in Irish Folklore.

2019

• Peter Browne ‘Tuning the Radio’: the close connections between traditional music and radio in Ireland. (April)
• Michael Fortune ‘The Process and Tools used to Collect and Share Folklore in Contemporary Ireland.’ (March
• Alan McLeod ‘Documenting tradition in a north Dublin fishing community: Alan McLeod’s ‘Perils and pearls’ and Globby Wore Sea Chart.’ (February)
• Ellie Nic Fhionnghaile ‘Athbheochan Traidisiún Fidil Dhún nan Gall 1980-2018’ (January)
• Jim Ledwith ‘The Mind of the Masked: masking in Irish folk tradition.’ (January)

2018

• Fiona Shannon, MSc: Looking back on traditional medicinal knowledge. A new perspective on the Schools' Manuscripts Collection. (April)
• Dr Arlene Crampsie: Mutual interests, different perspectives – the potential for collaboration between oral history and folklore in Ireland. (April)
• Professor Máire Ní Annracháin: Athchóiriú an bhéaloidis i nualitríocht na Gaeilge: tobar nach dtránn. (March)
• Dr Anne O'Dowd: Straw, hay and rushes in Irish folk tradition. (February)
• Gregory Darwin, MA: The Mermaid Legend (ML 4080) in Ireland and overseas. (January)

2017

• Merlo Kelly, MA (UCD): Fínis: A survey of an island (November)
• Dr Aoife Granville (UCC): An Dreoilín: Traidisiún, Ceol & Féiniúlacht Phobail i nDaingean Uí Chúis (November)
• Dr Gearóid Ó Crualaoich (UCC Emeritus): Towards an understanding of the ethno-poetic nature of traditional narration (October)
• Dr Fred Freeman (RCS Glasgow): Hamish Henderson: A New Voice on 'The Carrying Stream' (October)
• Dr Seán O'Connell (Queen's University Belfast): Interpreting nostalgia: memory and working class communities in Belfast (September)
• Fionnán MacGabhann (UCD): The Skellig Lists: Shrovetide ballads and rhymes from the south of Ireland (April)
• Dr Mícheál Briody (Language Centre, University of Helsinki): Social Aspects of the Buaile (transhumance) in Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, with emphasis on women's tradition (March)
• Elsa Ósk Alfreðsdóttir, MA (University of Iceland): 'Dwelling in the Roots’: Herbal medicine traditions in Iceland (February)
• Jane Nolan (Maps & GIS Librarian, UCD Library): Visualising your Research with Maps (January)

• Dr Marcas Mac Coinnigh (QUB): Tied Stones and Loose Dogs: Examining an 'Ancient Irish Adage' (November)
• Dr Claudia Kinmonth MA (RCA), Visiting Research Fellow, Moore Institute N.U.I. Galway: Irish Country Furniture 1700-1950: Decoration & Display in the Farmhouse Kitchen (November)
• An tOllamh Ríonach uí Ógáin, (UCD Emerita): Cycling the Coast of Clare: the Collecting Work of Séamus Ennis. (November)
• Grace Toland (Irish Traditional Music Archive): ITMA  - Present & Future. (October)
• Dr Deirdre Nuttall (IAPH): A Hidden Folk: Understanding the Protestant Minority in the Republic of Ireland Through Folklore (September)

2019

• Charles Doherty ‘The Viking mounds at Jelling and ancient Irish kingship’ (April)
  
  
• Kevin Whelan ‘The impact of Christianity on the Irish landscape in the Early Medieval period.’ (March)

2018

• Professor Liv Helga Dommasnes (University Museum of Bergen): 'Viking Women Left at Home?' (October)
  
  
• International Women's Day Special Lecture: Aoife Cranny Walsh (PhD Candidate, UCD): Queens and Sovereignty Goddesses:The historical and legendary perceptions of queenship in Early Medieval Ireland. (March)
  
  
• Dr Matthew Stout (DCU): How settlement studies contibute to our understanding of Early Medieval Ireland. (March)

The series 'Ó Thrácht go Twitter' [From Tract to Twitter] was launched by the UCD De Bhaldraithe Centre for Irish Language Scholarship in 2013. 

In this series, language experts - both academics and pracitioners - discuss Irish language writing and communication. These seminars are open to the public.

Listen to past lectures

Posters from the series 2014-Today