The School of History at University College Cork is pleased to host the First Chris Williams Memorial Colloquium on Ireland and Wales, an initiative of the School of History and the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, on Friday 21^st and Saturday 22^nd November 2025 (O’Rahilly Building, Room G27).

This year’s theme, Gerald of Wales: Identity, Afterlives and Wonders, brings together scholars exploring the many dimensions of the twelfth-century Cambro-Norman cleric and writer Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 1126–1223). Gerald’s connection to Ireland lies in his family’s central role in the Anglo-Norman invasion and settlement of the country, and his writings on Ireland, namely the Expugnatio Hibernica and Topographia Hibernica.

Kenneth Nicholls (1934-2025) was Statutory Lecturer in the Department (now School) of History at University College Cork from his appointment in 1974 until his retirement in 2005. Widely regarded as one of the greatest scholars of his generation, as a teacher he ranged broadly through time and space, offering undergraduates a magical carpet-ride of Irish, British, European and even Asian History from the Middle Ages to the Demographic Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Though some students could find the journey challenging, tugging away at old orthodoxies, many found it inspiring and revelatory. No other lecturer demonstrated such a range or depth of knowledge. On his best days his classes could be spellbinding. They were never dull.

The School of History is deeply saddened by the passing of our former colleague, Tom Dunne, after a short illness. Tom was Professor Emeritus of History following upon his retirement from UCC in 2004, after over 27 years of dedication to research and teaching in Cork. This long period does not include some of the very happy years after his retirement when he was teaching the history of Irish Art part-time at UCC, which complemented the curatorial assistance he gave to the Crawford Art Gallery, especially in the organisation of exhibitions and provision of catalogues on Cork artists, James Barry and Daniel Maclise.

Prof Ciara Breathnach recently published an article in the History Workshop Journal.

The School of History Annual Prize-giving Ceremony 2025 took place in the Aula Maxima on Wednesday, 19 February. The ceremony is an annual event celebrating the excellent achievements of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Prizes were awarded on the basis of academic performance in the previous academic year, 2023-2024. We are extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our students.

The School of History is deeply saddened by the untimely passing of our colleague, Gabriel Doherty. Gabriel was a much-loved colleague and friend who dedicated his life to teaching generations of students at UCC.  All in the School recognise and appreciate his extraordinary generosity in the support he gave to teaching and examining. 

Dr Loretta Brennan Glucksman introduced Professor Joe Lee, and Dr John Bowman who launched the Miriam Nyhan Grey (edited) A Tract for Our Times: A Retrospective on Joe Lee’s Ireland 1912-1985, at the Merrion Hotel, Dublin, 4 October 2024.

Alan McCarthy (1992-2024) was a brilliant young historian. His tragic passing has devastated his many friends and colleagues in UCC and far beyond.

The School of History Annual Prize-giving Ceremony 2024 took place in the Aula Maxima on Monday, 26 February. The ceremony is an annual event celebrating the excellent achievements of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Prizes were awarded on the basis of academic performance in the previous academic year, 2022-2023. We are extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our students.

Congratulations to Dr David Fitzgerald, whose book Uncertain Warriors: The United States Army between the Cold War and the War on Terror has just been published by Cambridge University Press.

The Decade of Centenaries History Competition for Primary and Post-Primary Schools’ Prize-giving Ceremony 2023 took place in the Aula Maxima in UCC on Monday, 16 October. 

A symposium in honour of Ronnie Herlihy will take place in the O'Rahilly Building, University College Cork on Saturday 20 May 2023 from 9.30-4.30.

The School of History Annual Prize-giving Ceremony 2023 took place in the Aula Maxima on Monday, 6 March. The ceremony is an annual event celebrating the excellent achievements of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Prizes were awarded on the basis of academic performance in the previous academic year, 2021-2022. We are extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our students.

School of History Prize-giving 2022

The School of History Annual Prize-giving Ceremony 2022 took place in the Aula Maxima on Monday, 13 June. The ceremony is an annual event celebrating the excellent achievements of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Prizes were awarded on the basis of academic performance in the previous academic year, 2020-2021. The event had to be postponed due to the pandemic, so we were particularly delighted to be able to return to the Aula Maxima. We are extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our students.

UCC's School of History is proud to announce a National Conference on the Irish Civil War, taking place 15-18 June 2022.

Congratulations to Dr David Fitzgerald, whose book Militarization and the American Century: War, the United States and the World since 1941 has just been published by Bloomsbury as part of their New Approaches to International History series.’

Congratulations to John O'Donovan on the publication of his first book today by Mercier Press. 

Cork City Council are proud to make public the screening of a very special documentary called “Endurance & Engagement: Cork City Women in the 1920’s” as part of the decade of commemorations for International Women’s Day 2022. The research team on the project were Dr Helene O’Keeffe of UCC School of History, Anne Twomey of Shandon History Group & Gerry White.  

https://www.corkcity.ie/en/a-city-remembers-cork-1920-to-1923/cultural-events/engagement-endurance/

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of Professor Emeritus John A. Murphy.  John A. had a very distinguished career in UCC and an influential role in the shaping of Irish public opinion, especially in relation to the Northern Ireland crisis.

Congratulations to Dr David Fitzgerald, whose article 'Warriors Who Don't Fight: The Post-Cold War United States Army and Debates over Peacekeeping Operations' was awarded the 2022 Vandervort Prize by the Society for Military History. 

Today, the Berliner Zeitung, the Berlin daily newspaper, published an article on Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel's book 'Ireland’s Helping Hand to Europe, 1945-1950; Combatting Hunger from Normandy to Tirana (Budapest: CEUP, Oct. 2021)'.

Congratulations to Second Year History student, Diane Sheehy, who was successful in receiving the, George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship, a programme established between UCC and the University of Maine in the US.  Dr Jerome aan de Wiel, assisted in the application process.  The School wishes Diane the very best for September 2022.

The National University of Ireland (NUI) has announced that the Irish Historical Research Prize 2021 is awarded to Dr Máirín MacCarron for her publication Bede and Time: Computus, Theology and History in the Early Medieval World (Routledge: London and New York, 2020).

All information - and a registration link - is available on the Irish Revolution website here

An interview with Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel by Seán Moncrieff, Newstalk radio, took place on the 21^st December 2021.  The interview was about Dr aan de Wiel's new book "Ireland's Helping Hand to Europe, 1945-1950; Combatting Hunger from Normandy to Tirana"

Click here to play the radio interview

Programme dates: 28 February - 4 March, 2022

Subject to Public Health Guidelines

TY Convinus will be held from 28 February - 4 March 2022.

This programme is designed for Second level Transition Year students interested in literary, creative, and historical humanities.

Tadhg Barry was the last high-profile victim of the crown forces during the Irish War of Independence. A veteran republican, trade unionist, journalist, poet, GAA official and alderman on Cork Corporation, he was shot dead in Ballykinlar internment camp on 15 November 1921.

Post-war Marshall Plan aid to Europe and indeed Ireland is well documented, but practically nothing is known about simultaneous Irish aid to Europe. This book provides a full record of the aid – mainly food but also clothes, blankets, medicines, etc.– that Ireland donated to continental Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Balkans, Italy, and zones of occupied Germany.

A Conference hosted by University College Cork, 1-2 October 2021

October 2021 marks the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Conference held in London which lasted from 11 October to 6 December 1921. The negotiations produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created the Irish Free State following its approval by Dáil Éireann.

While this Treaty may be viewed through the prism of the Irish Civil War and the later Northern Ireland Troubles, the negotiations themselves produced their own dynamics. The talks reflected evolving positions on fundamental issues such as empire, citizenship, identity, free trade, the role of minorities, defence and democratic representation.

Teaching Hero Award, 2020

Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel, 

History & European Studies, School of History, 

University College Cork

Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel, a lecturer in European Studies and History in the School of History, has been nominated for a national Teaching Hero Award by the students for his remarkable work and dedication to teaching and the students in 2020.

The School of History Annual Prize-giving Ceremony, which was due to take place in the Aula Maxima a couple of months ago, is an annual event celebrating the excellent achievements of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Due to the pandemic we are unable to hold our traditional ceremony this year, but all of the 2021 prize recipients have been contacted and have received their awards. We are extremely proud of their outstanding achievements. Please click on the following weblink for a List of Prizes and Prize Recipients 2021

Congratulations to Emeritus Professor Geoff Roberts. Two UCC trained historians, Dr James Ryan & Dr Susan Grant, have edited a festschrift in his honour. ‘Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism' is a collection of essays that address the conflicting and multi-faceted aspects of Stalinism and its representations.

Prize recipients for the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ History Competition for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 2020 were recently announced. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the deadline for submission of the projects was extended into the summer and the prize-giving ceremony has been postponed until further notice. The judging panel from the School of History, UCC, and the Department of Education and Skills, were greatly impressed with the quality of the entries, one of which will be published in a forthcoming issue of History Ireland magazine.

For a full list of the prize recipients click here

The School of History Annual Prize-giving Ceremony, which took place on 3 February in the Aula Maxima, is an annual event celebrating the excellent achievements of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. The event provides an opportunity for the staff of the School of History to acknowledge publicly and pay appropriate tribute to the inspiring work of those students. Prizes were awarded to the History Student of the Year in I, II and III Year, as well as at MA level, for work completed in the last academic year. Prizes were similarly awarded to European Studies and History of Art students for achievement at undergraduate level.

Terence MacSwiney - Cork Men’s Gaol and the Political Hunger Strike, 1920-2020

9 – 10 October, 2020

University College Cork

OPEN CALL FOR PAPERS—DEADLINE 10 FEBRUARY 2020 at 5.00 p.m.

Remarkable NUI success for UCC History’s Researchers and Postgraduates

The Department of Economics & The School of History are pleased to invite you to

The Economic and Social History Society of Ireland Annual Conference

Friday, December 6^th – Saturday, December 7^th 2019

The ‘Decade of Centenaries’ Irish History competition for schools (primary and post-primary) is an annual competition sponsored by the Department of Education and Skills and the School of History, UCC. It is also supported by History Ireland magazine. A letter, which has been sent out to schools across the country, provides details on the competition. This letter is available in English and Irish language versions by clicking on the links below.  Students may enter the competition with projects in either language. The closing date for project entries is Friday, 20 March 2020, and a prize-giving ceremony will take place in the Aula Maxima, UCC, in May 2020. For more details see www.education.ie/historycompetition.

On Saturday, 19th October, the School of History, in conjuction with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, will host a conference entitled 'Labour in the "War Zone": class, gender and the independence struggle in Munster, 1916-21.' The conference will take place in Boole 1 Lecture Theatre.

Congratulations to our graduate Laura Cashman (BA in Irish and History, MA in International Relations) who has been awarded an NUI travelling studentship. She was also the recipient of the NUI's Denis Phelan scholarship in 2018. 

All are very welcome to Cork’s first ever LGBTQ* History festival, taking place this weekend (1^st & 2^nd March) and organised by Cork Gay Project.

On Saturday 23 February Dr Donal Ó Drisceoil of the School of History delivered a keynote address entitled ''The War Zone': Reflections on the Brigade Activity Reports from Cork and Munster' at a symposium to mark the official launch of the Brigade Activity Reports series of the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin 6. These reports were compiled from 1935 onwards to assist in the verification of individual applications for pensions; nearly all of the reports include brief descriptions of particular operation undertaken or planned; the date of the operation and its location; and the identity and role of those who participated. They represent a major new on-line source base for research into the Irish revolution.

The Aula Maxima of University College Cork was the venue for the annual School of History prize-giving awards held on Monday 4 February 2019. Head of School Dr Mervyn O’Driscoll reminded family, friends, and members of staff assembled that the awards celebrated the achievements of the brightest and the best in the fields of History and European Studies.

This annual event provides an opportunity to acknowledge the generosity of the donors and representatives of the families of donors of various prizes which were awarded – the John A. Murphy Prize in Irish History, the Polish Ambassador’s Prize in Polish History, the John B. O’Brien Annual Prize in History, the Leonora Hanrahan Prize in History, the James and Mary Hogan Prize in History, the Dermot Keogh Prize in Irish History, the J.J. Lee Prize in History, and the Jennifer O’Reilly Prize in Medieval History. All of the prizes carry considerable prestige, as well as providing much-appreciated financial assistance to History students. Dr O’Driscoll also noted that the winner of the John A. Murphy Prize in Irish History was also awarded a National University of Ireland Mansion House Fund Scholarship.

The International Affairs Conference is always a highlight of the Royal Irish Academy's calendar. This year’s conference 'One hundred years of Irish foreign policy: looking back, looking forwards' will take place on 23 May 2019.  Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, T.D. will address the conference and the plenary will be delivered by Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, MRIA, Permanent Representative of Ireland at the United Nations.

The School of History at UCC is delighted to support this anniversary celebration of Prof J.J. Lee's ground-breaking magnum opus, Ireland 1912-1985: Politics and Society. 

The School of History & the MA in International Relations is hosting a public lecture entitled

'Arundhati Roy, Aung San Suu Kyi and Amanda Knox: Innocence and Experience' by Peter Popham (ex-Independent, London), journalist and author

Tuesday, 12 February at 5 pm, in Cavanagh Pharmacy Building LG 52.

March 29th 2019 is expected to see the exit of one of the largest member states of the European Union, and our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom. This provides us with an opportunity to reflect both on the past experiences of Irish women in and international context about how Brexit might impact our collaborations and our research going forward. How will we do women’s history in the post-Brexit era?

Irish women have long been influenced by the ideas and practices of both Britain and Europe, and in more recent years there are many ‘new Irish’ who bring to this country their international experiences. This conference will explore the theme of Irish women in international contexts from the middle ages to the present day.