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Conor Brockbank

@conorbrockbank.bsky.social
801 followers 619 following 92 posts

PhD History researcher @QUB | Irish migration in England, Wales and Zimbabwe | Migration within transnational networks | Previously at Aberystwyth University

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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Looking forward to kicking off the @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar series this Friday, with a paper by Thaw Zin Latt. It’s great to start off the year with a seminar organised with @publichistoryqub.bsky.social, long-term collaborators of the series! More information on Eventbrite: shorturl.at/GsjkL
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Very excited to announce the @qubhistory.bsky.social seminars for the upcoming semester. Join us each Friday to hear about the great research being done at Queen’s & elsewhere. Online attendance by request via the email below. For updates on the seminars, sign up to mailing list: shorturl.at/igu1r
Seminar schedule for the Autumn 2026 QUB history seminar series. These seminars all take place at 4pm each Friday in 01/003, 27 University Square from 18 September to 4 December.
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Irish Studies@LivUni @irishinstitute.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
"Men We Seldom See - Irish Migrant Legacies and the British Construction Industry" We are looking for Irish migrants who worked in any aspect of the British construction industry for at least one year, and are willing to be interviewed. ℹ️ www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie.... #oralhistory #SpéirGorm
liverpool.ac.uk
Men We Seldom See | Institute of Irish Studies | University of Liverpool
Research project at the Institute of Irish Studies looking at Irish Migrant Legacies and the British Construction Industry
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Peter Gray @petergray47.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Very sorry to hear of the recent death of Don MacRaild. Don was Professor of History at Northumbria, Wellington, Ulster, Roehampton, and London Met, where he was a PVC before his recent retirement. A leading historian of Ireland’s diaspora, he will be much missed by all who knew him.
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
It’ll be great to finish off this academic year with QUB’s very own, James Orchin who is also finishing up his time on the seminar committee after many years. Come hear his incredible research, chaired by none other than the Head of @qubhistory.bsky.social, Andrew Holmes!
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
TODAY at 6pm!
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
USIHS talk this Thursday at 6pm - Prof David Dickson (TCD) ‘The Foyle, the Chesapeake, and a fifty-year transatlantic conversation: Getting the measure of the Moore family archive, 1798-1847′. In-person at QUB or online via the link at usihs36.com/2026/03/23/u... All welcome!
usihs36.com
USIHS Lecture: Prof David Dickson (TCD)
‘The Foyle, the Chesapeake, and a fifty-year transatlantic conversation: Getting the measure of the Moore family archive, 1798-1847′ Thursday 23 April at 6pm. In-person at 27 University Squar…
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
There are two QUB History seminars on 24 April: Alice Mauger on drink and the late 20thC NY Irish at 2pm Li Na on Making Asian Public History at 4pm
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Benjamin Casey @benjamin-casey.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Excited to announce that my journal article on women printsellers in early nineteenth-century Dublin has been published in @eshsi.bsky.social It explores the gendered dynamics of the family print shop and how labour was divided in these domestic and commercial spaces.
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
What a fascinating temporary exhibition @nmireland.bsky.social next weekend on 18-19 April! Great for anyone interested in prison breakouts, Irish-American community efforts working across national borders and very BIG flags!
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
blogs.qub.ac.uk
The lost Northern Ireland census of 1926 – QPOL
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Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies @usihs.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
We're really looking forward to our April USIHS seminar! Prof. David Dickson @historytcd.bsky.social will speak on Thurs 23 April on The Foyle, the Chesapeake, and a fifty-year transatlantic conversation: Getting the measure of the Moore family archive, 1798-1847 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1986210363...
eventbrite.co.uk
USIHS Seminar: Prof. David Dickson (TCD) on 23 April, 6pm
‘The Foyle, the Chesapeake, and a fifty-year transatlantic conversation: Getting the measure of the Moore family archive, 1798-1847′
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Niall Herron @niallherron.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
The Call for Papers for the Gender & Sexuality PGR Conference at Queen's University Belfast closes on 15 April! Submit a 200-word abstract and 50-word bio to gendersexualitypgr@gmail.com Full details and CFP: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gender-and...
eventbrite.co.uk
Gender and Sexuality PGR Conference
QUB Gender and Sexuality PGR Conference: Critical Enough? Orientations of Authority and Resistance
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
This year's Wiles Lectures in the History of Civilisation will be given on 20-23 May by Prof Sunil Amrith (Yale) on the subject 'Towards a History of Repair'. More details at: www.qub.ac.uk/schools/happ... All welcome!
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Salvador Ryan @salvadorryan.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
#StPatricksDay is an appropriate time to issue a call for expressions of interest in my latest book project, with working title “Im/migration and the Irish”. This will chart BOTH the experiences of Irish migrants abroad over 1,500 years AND those who have migrated…
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Come join in-person or online for this week’s joint @qubhistory.bsky.social/ @publichistoryqub.bsky.social seminar with Carys Tyson-Taylor (Leicester)! Snacks & drinks provided as usual. More information about the seminar & to join online in the link below: www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Looking forward to another great @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar on Friday with @myishaseatmon.bsky.social. Drinks and snacks provided as usual. More information about the seminar and the sign-up to attend online is in the link below. All welcome! www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Kristof Smeyers @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Hi all, if you are doing research on (d)evil-related histories 🗃️ I have just the thing for you: a conference in Leuven on 4 + 5 June! Send me your abstracts in the next two weeks:
CALL FOR PAPERS: PERFORMING EVIL: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres, 1700-2000'. 4 & 5 June 2026, Leuven. 

This conference explores the tangled histories of supernatural, diabolic evil and all kinds of spectral apparitions in the last three centuries – Walter Scott’s ‘malignant and unhappy beings’. Specifically, it is interested in how and why ghosts, spirits and related apparitional phenomena were framed as diabolic, demonic or malign manifestations from the afterlife.

Diabolic connotations of ghosts and spirits did meaningful cultural work. They were mobilised to discredit ghost beliefs and spiritual practices, to delegitimise competing beliefs, or to invest doctrinal arguments with occult authority. They could also function as tools of scepticism and ridicule as well as triggers of wonder, fear and religiosity. Put differently, the nexus of ghosts and evil is deeply historical. And it was often articulated through performative means: in gestures and expressions of (dis)belief, in visual and textual representations, in séance rooms, on the stage and on the page. Emerging from this nexus are theatrical spirits of evil, staged, embodied, and made legible through mediation and display. In this sense, every ghost is a theatrical ghost. Through the focus on the construction and staging of diabolic spirits, this conference aims to develop a methodological framework for studying historical forms of occultism and demonology more broadly in terms of performance.Exploring how the relationship of spectrality and evil has shifted in shape over time and across different cultures, the conference invites contributions that can consider a wide range of historical actors – clerics, mediums, ghost-hunters, debunkers, necromancers, stage
performers, eyewitnesses.

This conference aims to study cultural intersections and interactions to arrive at a more granular understanding of discursive, practical and material connections between spirits and evil. At the same time this lens zooms out, making visible broader dynamics of knowledge construction in specific historical moments. How, for instance, did hauntings and possessions shape communities and audiences? How did religious or folkloric ideas about the devil inform spectral encounters?

We hope to bring together historians, art historians, theatre and literary scholars, folklorists and anthropologists from every stage in their career around the above questions. We welcome 20-minute papers on topics that include but are by no means limited to:
- making spectral evil visible: performance, arts, media, technologies, popular cultures
- making spectral evil invisible: popular and occult knowledge circulation
- performing (un)belief: practices and rhetoric, summoning and debunking on the stage (from popular stages to the lecture hall and the laboratory)
- materiality of spectres: the function of bodies and objects
- diabolic spirits and (intellectual, vernacular, theological, folkloric) ideas about morality, mortality and temporality
- occult performance and ‘cultural scripts’ of ghost encounters (from necromancy to poltergeists)
- affect and emotions: fear, grief, trauma… and hope

Send abstracts (c.250 words) and bios (c.100 words) to kristof.smeyers@kuleuven.be before 21 March 2026. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.
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Niall Herron @niallherron.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
I’m delighted to share that my first journal article has been published in Ethnos, entitled ‘Liberation Past, Present Stagnation: Queer Nostalgia and Memories of the Northern Irish Troubles’.
tandfonline.com
Liberation Past, Present Stagnation: Queer Nostalgia and Memories of the Northern Irish Troubles
The troubled past looms large in Northern Ireland decades after the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. This article examines how queer memories of the Troubles mobilise nostalgia to contest linear narr...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Looking forward to this week’s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar by @sophienoble.bsky.social! Drinks and snacks provided. All welcome! More information about the seminar and the sign up to attend online in the link below: www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies @usihs.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Our next USIHS seminar will be on Thursday 5th March (next week!) when we'll welcome Antonia Hart to speak on Ulster Women in Business & Bankruptcy, 1888-1922. All welcome! www.eventbrite.ie/e/usihs-ulst...
eventbrite.ie
USIHS: Ulster women in business & bankruptcy, 1888-1922
Dr Antonia Hart (TCD) will speak at USIHS on 5 March. All are welcome - in person and online.
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Damian Shiels @irishacw.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
I'm pleased to launch a major new update of the Andersonville Irish Project database. It contains details on over 1060 Irish Americans who died. New datapoints include place of enlistment, capture, occupation, together with Irish origins. Access it here: irishamericancivilwar.com/2026/03/01/m...
irishamericancivilwar.com
Major Andersonville Irish Project Database Update
The work on the Andersonville Irish Project is continuing, and we are pleased to announce a major new update. The interactive database, which now contains more than 1,060 individuals, has been upda…
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
If you are free later, why not consider adding this seminar to your tu-do(r) list?
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
This THURSDAY: Don’t miss a fascinating seminar both in-person and online to kick off the @usihs.bsky.social calendar for 2026! More information on the Eventbrite below.
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Really looking forward to this week’s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar by @mauricejcasey.com! A great title and no doubt a great paper on anti-fascist vegetarians - one not to miss! Snacks and drinks provided. All welcome - in person and online! More information: www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies @usihs.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
A reminder that our first seminar of 2026 is on Thursday! Neil Murphy @northumbriauni.bsky.social will speak on 'Violence, colonialism and the mid-Tudor monarchy: Ireland in context'. If you can't join us in person @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social join online 👇 www.eventbrite.ie/e/violence-c...
eventbrite.ie
Violence, Colonialism and the Mid-Tudor Monarchy: Ireland in Context
Our first USIHS seminar of 2026 will be Professor Neil Murphy (Northumbria) who will speak on Thursday 19th February at 6pm.
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UBC Centre for Migration Studies @migration.ubc.ca · 03/02/2026
Get to know Claudia M. Serrano, Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at UBC, and learn about her research on border control, migrant safety, and critical border studies, as well as her advice for graduate students navigating critical migration studies. 🔗 Read the Q&A: shorturl.at/PM861
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Really looking forward to hearing this week’s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar by QUB’s very own, Andrew Himmelberg! Drinks and snacks provided as usual. All welcome! www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Looking forward to this week’s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar with @emilybaughan.bsky.social (chaired by @kieranconnell.bsky.social). Snacks and drinks provided as usual. All welcome! www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Looking forward this Friday to hearing this week’s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar in collaboration with @publichistoryqub.bsky.social. Annie McAleer will talk about the work of UNTOLD: The Museum. Snacks and drinks provided. All welcome! More information: www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Looking forward to this seminar series kicking off in February!
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Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies @usihs.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Our spring 2026 seminar series programme is here! We'll be adding eventbrite links soon so you can join us online or in person - all are welcome! First up we have Neil Murphy on 19 February at 6pm. Neil will speak on 'Violence, colonialism and the mid-Tudor monarchy: Ireland in context'.
19 Feb: Neil Murphy on 'Violence, colonialism and the mid-Tudor monarchy: Ireland in context'
5 March: Antonia Hart on 'Ulster women in business and bankruptcy, 1888-1922'
23 April: David Dickson on 'The Foyle, the Chesapeake, and a fifty-year transatlantic conversation'
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Rebecca Brown (@ulsteruni.bsky.social) is kicking off the @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar series for the semester this Friday at 4pm (more details below and on the Eventbrite link). Snacks and drinks provided as usual. All welcome! www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Looking forward to this semester‘s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar series which starts this Friday! Drinks and snacks provided as usual. All welcome!
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Clodagh Tait @clodaghtait.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Still looking for a gift for the person who has everything? How about 'Childhood and the Irish', with accounts of good times and bad from a range of childhoods from the medieval to the recent. I have a pieces on a Waterford keen and on the foundlings of Youghal and their nurses.
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Salvador Ryan @salvadorryan.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Thank you to the wonderful Castle Books in #Castlebar (one of my truly beloved independent bookshops) for stocking both Christmas & the Irish and Childhood & the Irish. Popped in to sign some copies this afternoon.
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
It was great to be at the launch by @miriamocal.bsky.social of Childhood and the Irish: A Miscellany edited by @salvadorryan.bsky.social last week at @ria.ie! Thinking back on the childhoods of two of the crucial Carmelite figures within my PhD was fascinating and so rewarding.
Man stood in doorway holding a book with a blue door to his right hand side and a brown door behind labelled “Royal Irish Academy” The opening page of an article in a book entitled “A Carmelite Childhood: The Childhoods of Future Missionaries in Ballymanus, Co. Wicklow From The 1890s To 1910s”
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Liverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
We are delighted that Dr Ruth Duffy has been awarded an honourable mention in the Irish Historical Studies First Book Prize 2024 for Healthcare and the Troubles! Congratulations, Ruth 🎉 Discover more about the book here: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
Healthcare and the Troubles | Home
The Conflict Experience of the Northern Ireland Health Service, 1968–1998
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Irish Historical Studies @irishhiststudies.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
#OpenAccess Research article, 'Gendered hierarchies and marked bodies: narratives of household violence in early modern Ireland' by Dianne Hall is available through the following link! @universitypress.cambridge.org
cambridge.org
Gendered hierarchies and marked bodies: narratives of household violence in early modern Ireland | Irish Historical Studies | Cambridge Core
Gendered hierarchies and marked bodies: narratives of household violence in early modern Ireland - Volume 49 Issue 175
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Irish Historical Studies @irishhiststudies.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
#OpenAccess Research article, 'Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c.1960-1990', by Charlie Lynch is available through the following link: @universitypress.cambridge.org
cambridge.org
Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c.1960-1990 | Irish Historical Studies | Cambridge Core
Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c.1960-1990 - Volume 49 Issue 175
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Irish Historical Studies @irishhiststudies.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
#OpenAccess research article, 'Encountering modern Irish history: historiography, archives and imagination in the twenty-first century' by Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Roisín Higgins and Carole Holohan is available through the following link! @universitypress.cambridge.org @earner.bsky.social
cambridge.org
Encountering modern Irish history: historiography, archives and imagination in the twenty-first century | Irish Historical Studies | Cambridge Core
Encountering modern Irish history: historiography, archives and imagination in the twenty-first century
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
What a great way to end this semester’s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar series tomorrow with @niamhcullen.bsky.social, chaired by @elainefarrell.bsky.social! Drinks and snacks provided as usual. For more information and to sign up to attend online see: www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Speaking of great books on Irish America, my @irishhiststudies.bsky.social book review on @anelisehshrout.bsky.social's excellent 'Aiding Ireland: the Great Famine and the rise of transnational philanthropy' has just come out www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Aiding Ireland: the Great Famine and the rise of transnational philanthropy. By Anelise Hanson Shrout . Pp 263. New York: New York University Press. 2024. $35. | Irish Historical Studies | Cambridge C...
Aiding Ireland: the Great Famine and the rise of transnational philanthropy. By Anelise Hanson Shrout . Pp 263. New York: New York University Press. 2024. $35.
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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Have you got a new book out about Irish America? Regardless of discipline, if it came out in 2025, you can submit it to the ACIS Lawrence McCaffrey Prize for Books on Irish America! You need to fill out the form on this website and the books need to be sent by 1 January! acisweb.org/mccaffrey-pr...
acisweb.org
Lawrence J. McCaffrey Prize | American Conference for Irish Studies – An Chomhdháil Mheiriceánach do Léann na hÉireann
Larry McCaffrey, co-founder of ACIS, was a highly respected, engaging, and beloved teacher throughout his entire career. He served as the first Secretary of ACIS and was ACIS President from 1975 to…
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Salvador Ryan @salvadorryan.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Looking forward very much to the launch of Childhood and the Irish THIS EVENING in the Royal Irish Academy by @miriamocal.bsky.social, with the event MC’d by @jdmccafferty.bsky.social. Hope to meet many of you there. Fáilte roimh chách!
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
A great and supportive environment is provided by the @catholicrs.bsky.social annual conference. To read more about the range of fascinating topics and research which is discussed at this conference, see my report on this year’s conference below.
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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
In a change to the advertised schedule this week‘s @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar will be given by QUB’s very own @pfarrelly2025.bsky.social. Snacks & drinks will be provided as usual. For more information & to sign up to attend online, see the Eventbrite below: www.eventbrite.com/e/qub-histor...
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Catholic Record Society @catholicrs.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
The call for papers for our 68th Annual Conference, to be held 1-2 July 2026 at Notre Dame London, is live on our website here: www.crs.org.uk/conferences. For a great write up of last year's event by @conorbrockbank.bsky.social, see here: www.crs.org.uk/conference-r... #catholichistory #catholic
crs.org.uk
Conference | CRS
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Irish Studies at QUB @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Funded PhD opportunities at QUB: 'Childcare provision in late twentieth-century Northern Ireland (1960s-1990s)' www.qub.ac.uk/courses/post...
qub.ac.uk
REF: DfEHIS - HIS-PHD | Courses | Queen's University Belfast
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