FLEXI

ERC project developing innovative digital techniques to examine early Irish texts. FLEXI investigates how law digests were (re)produced, studied, and transmitted in medieval Ireland, revealing intertextual relationships hidden from the human eye. This is the first in-depth study of Irish digests and a ground-breaking attempt to synthesise philology, comparative legal history, network theories and digital techniques to revolutionise the research of medieval law texts and improve understanding of their social importance.

Youth Engagement in European Language Preservation (YEELP), 1900-2020

ERC project to preserve and protect historical regional languages. The project focuses on youth involvement in language preservation of three minority languages (Irish, Welsh and Catalan) through educational, historical, and literary approaches, while also engaging with youths themselves.

Women of the Glens

Regina Uí Choilleatáin's Women of the Glens research focuses on an intellectual class of Ulster women who were somewhat side-lined in Gaelic Revival discourse. The Protestant women of the Glens of Antrim in the early 20th century developed a significant body of research through their work on the Irish language in prestigious journals and in various library material – all of which played a role in the Irish Revival. Many were also very instrumental in the running of Feis na nGleann in the early years of the twentieth century.

Decoding Hidden Heritages of Gaelic Narrative

Using cutting-edge technology to decode, interpret and curate the hidden heritages of Gaelic traditional narrative, this UKRI-AHRC / IRC consortium will shed light on the convergence and divergence in the narrative traditions of Scotland and Ireland and their joint cultural history. Recent advances in Natural Language Processing will enable the team to digitise, convert and help disseminate a vast corpus of folklore manuscripts in Irish and Scottish Gaelic.

Pobal na Nae istigh: Pobal na Gaeilge agus an tAontas Eorpach

UCD Centre for Global Irish / School of Irish, Celtic Studies & Folklore project to bring Irish-language practitioners and members of the public together to discuss language policy and practice with regards to Irish. The project will contribute to the ongoing debate on Ireland’s place in, and the future of, the EU. Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland Communicating Europe Initiative.

Saint Brigit's cult in Ireland and Europe

Irish Research Council funded research project providing a comparative investigation into the adaptation growth and success of medieval female sanctity, consulting latin and Irish language texts. 

Digitally Leveraging Language Archives (DiLLA)

Una Europa Seed Funded project to promote the use of materials held in university language and dialect archives for academic research, including in linguistics, dialectology and folklore. Bringing together early-career researchers at universities that hold rich but often underutilised archival resources with specialists in state-of-the-art digital methods in corpus linguistics and the digital humanities. 

CROPREVIVE

Irish Research Council COALESCE project investigating how ancient farming practices can help develop more sustainable farming systems in modern Ireland. Examining the extensive archaeological evidence for farming in ancient Ireland, the team consult Irish language sources in the National Folklore Collection to enhance their research.

Landspeaks

UCD Centre for Canadian Studies and Ireland Canada University Foundation led community of engagement, supporting partnerships in the areas of culture, language preservation and reclamation, environmental care, and processes of peace and reconciliation, for the benefit of our communities, wider societies, and the planet.

Global Diaspora Congress

More than 70 million people worldwide can claim descent from Irish emigrants. The Global Irish Diaspora Congress brings researchers from every corner of the world together to examine and share learnings on the histories, cultures, heritages and identities of Irish communities beyond Ireland’s shores. Creating new international networks for collaboration, the Congress enhances worldwide research on Irish migration causes and experiences, and the impact of migrations on host populations and cultures, from the Middle Ages through the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation

Leading research institute in the field of Irish studies, named in honour of one the 'Four Masters' who hailed from one of the foremost learned families of Gaelic Ireland and assembled the most extensive set of Irish annals ever compiled (Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland). Founded in 2000 as part of the UCD-OFM (Order of Friars Minor) Partnership, the Institute supports researchers in their pursuit of major projects and theses and promotes Irish studies among academics and the public through conferences, seminars and publications.

De Bhaldraithe Centre for Irish Scholarship

Established in 2008 to address the increasing need for trained professionals in Irish language media and journalism, editing and copy-editing, administration, legal translation, interpreting and general translation, the Centre focusses primarily on enhancing students' language accuracy, while developing their critical analysis skills, to prepare them for 21st Century Irish language careers. 

Gaeltacht UCD Global Centre for Irish Language & Culture

Gaeltacht UCD shares the Irish language and its associated culture globally, bringing the best of Ireland to UCD and the best of UCD to the world. The centre offers Irish language courses, cultural activities, translation services, exchange programmes, an international summer school and an award-winning Irish language residential scholarship scheme. 

UNESCO recognised Folklore Collection at UCD

The National Folklore Collection is recognised by UNESCO for its world significance and outstanding universal value to culture. The materials collected by The Irish Folklore Commission since 1936 span many aspects of human endeavour, from material culture to oral literature, language and artistic expression. 706,039 manuscript pages, 13,396 photographs and 267 hours of audio are available through the NFC UCD Digitisation Project. 

Agnes Farrelly was the first female Professor of Modern Irish (1932-1947)

Advancing the fields of Irish dialectology and lexicography

Prof Regina Uí Chollatáin is Chair of Foras na Gaeilge, the body responsible for promoting the Irish language North and South

Providing a professional pipeline to implement Irish as a working language for the EU

UCD's first Prof of Early & Medieval Irish, Osborn Bergin, discovered 'Bergin's Law'

UCD houses the only copy of the diary of the 1607 Flight of the Earls, the first diary written in Irish

National Folklore Collection at UCD recognised by UNESCO for its world significance

Prof John McCafferty spoke to the Oireachtas on the significance of Irish manuscripts for collective memory

UCD is home to the original 17th C. manuscript of the largest surviving body of Irish genealogical lore

As inaugural Prof of Early Irish History, Eoin MacNeill's research was key in the Gaelic Revival

Douglas Hyde: First Professor of Modern Irish

Dr Fangzhe Qiu

Ad Astra Fellow at UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore, specialist in Celtic historical linguistics with a focus on the development of the Old Irish language, Early Irish law, and early Irish literature, PI of FLEXI. 

Prof Regina Uí Chollatáin

UCD College of Arts and Humanities Principal, Chair of Foras na Gaeilge, President of the Global Irish Diaspora Congress and a member of the MoLI Academic Advisory Board and the Irish Folklore Council.

Assoc Prof Iarfhlaith Watson

Dr Ríona Nic Congáil

Associate Prof, specialist in the Revivalist Period, the History of Childhood, Women's role in Irish-Language Literature and Minority Language Studies, PI of the ERC YEELP project.

Dr Tiber Falzett

Assistant Prof, research explores language, music and the construction of community through socially-rooted forms of local knowledge amongst Gaels on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dr Conor Mulvagh

Lecturer in Irish History with special responsibility for the decade of centenaries, research centres primarily on British and Irish political history and the history of Ireland during the decade of the Irish revolution and the First World War.

Prof Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail MRIA

World expert in Ireland's vernacular written tradition from medieval times to the 19th century and contemporary Irish writing heritage, works closely with manuscripts from UCD Special Collections.

Dr Connor McCabe

Ad Astra Fellow specialising in Modern Irish and linguistic structure, PI on Pobal na Nae istigh: Pobal na Gaeilge agus an tAontas Eorpach.

Dr Elva Johnston

Assoc Prof at UCD School of History, specialising in the history and culture of Late Antique and Early Medieval Ireland, with a current focus on the cults of the Irish saints and Roman influence in Late Antique Ireland.

Dr Kelly Fitzgerald

Head of UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore, specialises in the intellectual history and development of Irish folkloristics and archives amongst other aspects of folklore studies and oral history.

Dr Cathal Billings

Assistant Prof at UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore, with a research focus on the Irish Revival,  sports history, nationalism and cultural nationalism, Irish language media and the use of Irish in the public sphere.

Dr Aoife Whelan

Assistant Prof researching Irish language media, Irish Revival period, Film studies, Philosophy of Irish-Ireland, Principal on 'The story of women' in Irish language media in the post-revival Irish State 1922-1962'.

The Great Book of Irish Genealogies

Colm Ó Lochlainn Manuscripts

National Folklore Collection

UCD Franciscan Collection

The Irish Poetry Reading Archive

Patrick Ferriter Manuscripts

Henry Morris Manuscripts

Eugene O'Curry Manuscripts

The Irish Dialect Archives

Oireachtas Library exhibition 'Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language' curated by Dr Aoife Whelan

Filmmakers Colm Bairéad and Cleona Ní Chrualaoi hold honorary degrees from UCD

Beo ar Éigin podcast from UCD Alum Siún Ni Dhuinn & Áine Ní Bhreisleáin

TG4 Presenter Donncha Ó Murcú is a UCD Graduate

Writer, Performer & Presenter Ciara Ní É is a UCD Alum

P.H.Pearse: Life and After-Life by Prof Regina Uí Chollatáin & Roisín Higgins (Eds)

Author Manchán Magan is a UCD Alum

UCD Lecturer Eoin McEvoy is a writer, dramatist and translator

Eoin MacNeill: The Pen and the Sword by UCD Prof Conor Mulvagh & Emer Purcell (Eds)

Special Oireachtas lecture on Pearse and Irish Language Journalism

UCD Alum Méabh Ní Thuathaláin is a journalist with Tuairisc

UCD experts in TG4 documentary on the history of camogie