Overview
Celtic Studies is an area of high importance with research in the subject being carried out within the Irish and Celtic Studies Research Institute
Summary
In REF 2014 the Irish and Celtic Studies Research Institute was assessed as having:
100% outstanding or very considerable impact in research
66% of overall research world-leading or internationally excellent
90% of research environment internationally excellent or world-leading
The subject has a high income stream, and staff and student support arrangements and postgraduate training are excellent. The Institute is committed to fully supporting its postgraduate students.
Specialisms include medieval Irish language and literature, textual scholarship, the transmission of senchas and historical verse, voyage literature, the Gaelic manuscript tradition, bardic poetry, place-names research, dialectology, lexicography, stylistics, minority languages, language policy and planning, the syntax and semantics of the verb in Irish, 18th and 19th century Irish language, literature and learning with particular reference to Ulster, modern and contemporary Irish literature, Scottish Gaelic literature from the eighteenth century to the present time, creative writing, Gaelic literature in translation, applied language studies (CALL, digitization, language corpora) and Irish folklore.
Postgraduate supervision is available in almost all aspects of Irish and Scottish Gaelic language and literature and in a range of subject areas in the other Celtic languages.
About
The research infrastructure provided by the University is of a high quality. The Institute has a Director who is responsible for the day-to-day running and management of the subject area. There is also a Faculty of Arts Research Committee and a Faculty Research Graduate School. A Pro-Vice-Chancellor has special responsibility for research matters in the University and a Research Department oversees and administers all aspects of research provision. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor meets with the Director of the Research Institute on a regular basis to discuss strategy and priorities and to assess progress.
The main objective of the Institute is to foster and develop a vibrant research culture and
ethos in all aspects of its work. This is reflected in a variety of ways, such as the number of high-quality publications by members of the group, externally-funded research projects,
the organization of conferences and colloquia, international collaborations, and the large number of research students and research degrees awarded.
The Institute has close ties with the scholarly Societies, Societas Celto-Slavica and Societas Celtologica Nordica. Members of the Institute occupy the positions of President and Vice- President of these Societies respectively and edit their academic journals. The Institute also runs a series of research seminars on various aspects of Celtic Studies at which papers are presented by members of the Institute, including research students, and invited guests. Members of the Institute edit Studia Celtica Upsaliensia and Studia Celto-Slavica.
Students are of central importance to the research culture of the subject: they maintain close contact with their supervisors and other staff; they are allocated dedicated space; and they are closely integrated into the fabric of the subject as a whole.
Doctoral Training Centre in the Celtic Languages, Literatures and Cultures
In addition, Ulster is a partner in the new collaborative Doctoral Training Centre in the Celtic Languages, Literatures and Cultures, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the period 2014-19. A consortium of 12 higher education organisations across the UK award doctoral studentships and support the training of students in a new, collaborative fashion. The Consortium Members are the universities of Aberdeen, Bangor, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, Swansea, Queens University Belfast, Ulster University, the University of the Highlands and Islands/Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies; the Centre is managed by the University of Glasgow. Students are enabled in an unprecedented way to partake of shared supervision and resources across these universities, and to engage with partners outside the higher education sector.
Current Projects
The Institute has generated significant funding and is engaged in a number of prestigious scholarly projects. On-going projects include the following:
Languages for the Future: Northern Ireland Languages Strategy (DENI-funded project)
Stories of the Sea: A Typological Study of Maritime Memorates in Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic Folklore Traditions (AHRC-funded project)
Concise Irish-English/English-Irish Dictionary (RCUK-funded project)
The History of Celtic Studies
POOLS and Tools for CLIL Teachers
Celtologica-Nordica, Celto-Slavica and Celto-Indica Studies
Displaced Poets: Migrant Writing from the Margins in a Scottish Gaelic Context 17801930 and beyond (RCUK-funded project).