Welcome from Dr Damian Bracken, Head of the School of History
Welcome to the School of 
History, a cornerstone of research and teaching in the Humanities at University College Cork. Whether you are new to the School, a returning student, or want to learn more about the School and its activities, you’ll find information on the pages of this website to guide you through the academic year.
History has been taught at UCC since its foundation and the School has grown into one of the largest in terms of student enrolment in the University with a proud tradition of ground-breaking research and award-winning staff publications. The School plays a leading role in research into Ireland’s past, and has research and teaching strengths in gender history, environmental history, continental European, US, and international history. We are a community of over twenty specialists whose expertise spans a broad chronological range from the ancient world to the contemporary, and we are ready to support our students on their journey of discovery into the past. Feel free to contact a staff member if you have any questions about undergraduate courses or if you have an interest in pursuing postgraduate options – we are always happy to help!
Our staff are experts in their fields and are committed to research-led teaching. As a student, you will work directly on the sources (archival material, digital media, manuscripts, and visual sources) that historians use to interpret and write about the past. The curriculum is designed to give you the historical depth needed to engage in study of the past. But the curriculum is wide and offers many optional courses allowing you to focus on the historical topics and periods that you find most compelling – you really can follow your interests and specialise in the History that fascinates you. You can explore the transformation of societies and the profound changes in attitudes in areas including politics, identity, culture, religion, sport, medicine, gender, the economy, warfare, and the media. You can learn how people in the past lived their lives, made sense of their world, and how they met the challenges they faced.
As an undergraduate, you will experience learning about the past in a variety of contexts: from large classes that give you a sense of belonging to a community of learners who share your passion for History, to small groups of students working individually with a lecturer as you research for your final-year dissertation. You’ll find that your best work is done on the subjects that interest you most, and that journey of discovery leading to the dissertation is particularly rewarding. Many of our students have built on that work to produce pioneering research.
In these days of ‘alternative’ facts and powerful technologies like AI that threaten the autonomy of the individual, now is a good time to study History, a discipline that inculcates analytical rigour and the skills that hone your ability to weigh up the evidence and to make an independent judgment, and these are skills that set you up to embark on a range of careers in our globalised and complex world.
Your journey into the past should prepare you for an exciting future and we in the School of History are privileged to set you out on that road
Dr Damian Bracken, Head of the School of History
September 2026
About the School of History
Modern Times: 1994 to Present
Today the History Department combines the specialist functions of the three former Departments. Following the death of Professor John Barry (1989) and the retirement of Professor John A Murphy (1990), the three Departments were merged under the chairmanship of Professor Joseph Lee. Since 1993, History has grown, expanding its specialisms, enhancing its multidisciplinary approach to the subject, and increasing its teaching staff complement.
The History Department has approximately 30 full-time and part-time teaching staff, and is one of the largest Departments in the Arts Faculty in UCC. Undergraduate student numbers are large and growing, complemented by the highest number of graduate research students in the Faculty. The History Department has, also, in recent years become the most attractive Departments to visiting students, especially North American students.
Three History Departments: 1960s – 1990s
The 1960s ushered in significant changes in History at UCC. Three distinct departments were established of Medieval, Irish and Modern History. After Professor Hogan’s retirement in 1963, there was no immediate replacement. Instead, following the appointment of Professor Pender to Irish History, further recognition was given to specialisation. In 1965 John Barry was appointed Professor of Medieval History. Oliver MacDonagh took the chair of Modern History in 1968, and John A Murphy, attached to the History teaching staff since 1960, succeeded Professor Pender in the Irish History chair in 1971. After Oliver MacDonagh moved to the Australian National University, the Modern chair was filled by John Joseph Lee.
These developments accelerated trends already evident in Cork: increasing specialisation and growing numbers of staff, undergraduate and graduate students. Specialisation was facilitated by the increase in staff numbers and the recruitment of new staff bringing expertise in medieval, early modern and modern history, in Irish and international fields. This in turn allowed greater options in the growing field of graduate research. Graduate research numbers quadrupled from the 1960s to the early 1990s, to an average of over 50 students. The focus of research shifted also from mainly Irish topics to embrace a wide variety of fields in social, economic, cultural, political, intellectual and diplomatic fields, reflecting the wider interests of the supervisory staff.
New dimensions would also be added to History too. In 1978 Gearóid O’Crualaoich established the Irish folklore studies within the department, and it would later form a distinct department of its own, An Roinn Bhealadois. In the 1980s, too, in recognition of the growing importance of Europe integration, the need to provide specific, focused European Integration Studies was recognised, with the Modern History Department anchoring the establishment of that programme in Cork. The early focus and drive in this area saw many benefits, including the award of a Jean Monnet Professorship in Integration Integration Studies to Dermot Keogh in 1989.
From Queen’s College Cork to University College Cork, 1849-1909
History has been offered at Queen’s College Cork (QCC) as an academic subject from its foundation. In 1849, History students were enrolled among the first group of scholars. The subject was offered as part of the Chair of English Language, Literature and History from then until the transition of QCC to a constituent College of the National University of Ireland in 1909.
Under the first Professor, Rev. Charles Darley, the History curriculum ranged from the third to the fifteenth century. Under Darley’s successor, William Rushton, the curriculum was extended to include the French Revolution and the end of the eighteenth century.
In 1909 the University was restructured, and University College Cork (UCC) emerged as a distinctive College of the three-member National University of Ireland. Patrick Merriman was appointed to the first separate Chair of History the same year. He had an immediate impact on the popularity of the discipline, offering History in four of the eight faculties of the university. These developments led to an increase in student numbers.
Between 1909 and Professor Merriman’s promotion to the Presidency of UCC in 1919, the number of History students increased thirteen-fold. James Hogan succeeded Patrick Merriman in the Chair of History in 1921 and occupied it until 1963. Hogan was noted for his ‘high seriousness of purpose, disinterested probity, dedication to learning and devotion to duty’. One might add devotion to his subject as History in UCC, which already had established a multidisciplinary approach, expanded its horizons even further. Professor Hogan pioneered approaches to the study of political science as reflected in his prolific published output. He also broadened the curriculum to embrace modern nationalism and internationalism, and heightened awareness of Irish history, catering for general and specialist approaches to history.
As teaching commitments grew, so also did staffing levels. A specific Research Professorship in Irish History was established in 1948 and held by Denis Gwynn until his retirement in 1963. He also succeeded Dr Alfred O’Rahilly as general editor of the Cork University Press in 1955. In that year Séamus Pender, attached to Cork since 1938, was appointed to the first chair of Irish History.
The range of the curriculum was by this stage broad, reflecting staff interests in European, Irish and International history – Medieval and Modern, from Antiquity to the Cold War - embracing political ideas, ecclesiastical history, ideologies, and social and economic issues.
Teaching and Learning in History
Teaching and Learning
Teaching takes place in lectures, seminars and small groups. Lectures give you the foundations of knowledge and guidance in interpretation. Small group teaching enables you to discuss historical topics in detail and to develop your skills in writing and analysis. Seminars are used to teach you to look more closely at evidence and arguments, and to refine your thinking and communication skills at an advanced level.
UNDERGRADUATES
HISTORICAL RESEARCH SKILLS
HI2104 Special Research Project
HI2105 Case Studies in Research Skills and Historiography
HI3001 Historical Debate
HI3302 Special Research Project
HI3200 History Research Seminars
WRITING HISTORY, A WORKSHOP SERIES FOR SECOND AND THIRD YEAR UNDERGRADUATES
The purpose of these workshops is to assist students to become aware of the processes involved in academic and critical writing. Each session will introduce students to a process employed in scaffolding successful academic writing: close reading, note taking, journal keeping, concept mapping, free writing, project drafting, project reviewing and managing the writing project. These workshops will be interactive and will encourage students to discuss writing as a process and to improve their writing skills through workshop exercises.
This workshop supports
HI2104 Special Research Project
HI3302 Special Research Project
Download WritingYourDissertationGuide (143kB)
POSTGRADUATES
TEACHING HISTORY: SEMINARS FOR SCHOOL OF HISTORY TUTORS
The purpose of these sessions is to foster a community of practice for tutor-historians in the School of History. Once a month, tutors will meet to discuss teaching historical thinking and performance, for example, reflective teaching methods employed to facilitate undergraduates learning to interpret and use primary and secondary sources. Through moderated online discussion, during the intervening period, tutors will be encouraged to reflect on and to share their emerging philosophies for teaching history in higher education. These workshops are specific to the teaching of the discipline of history, but compliment the accredited university-wide modules in graduate education:
PG6003: Teaching for Graduate Studies and PG6012: Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education co-ordinated by Ionad Bairre: Centre of Teaching and Learning.
HISTORIANS ON TEACHING http://www.historiansonteaching.tv/ developed by Prof Alan Booth at the University of Nottingham (UK) is now live. This website features historians in Europe, Australia and North America talking about the processes of history performance and how it impacts on teaching and learning within the discipline, academy, and the public sphere.