Dr Heather Laird has been appointed as one of the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies Visiting Scholars for Spring 2026

9 Jan 2026

Dr Heather Laird has been appointed as one of the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies Visiting Scholars for Spring 2026. Her current book project, “Land and literature in Modern Ireland: Decolonising the Field”, is a monograph that explores post-revolutionary Irish writing in the context of land ownership, occupancy and usage. While the book is shaped by decolonial theory, it is also inspired by Heather’s own experience of having been raised on a family farm on the county boundaries of Leitrim and Roscommon.

“Land and Literature in Modern Ireland” is grounded in contextual research on land and agriculture as key sites for the struggle for political, economic and social power in Ireland from the colonial plantations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the current day. During her residency at the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies (LCIS), Heather will strengthen the monograph’s historical and conceptual frameworks, and complete a chapter that examines the representation of environment crisis in contemporary Irish women’s fiction. She will also engage in LCIS research activities and deliver a lecture on the topic of the book.