iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Extra time means I'm up for the sky to turn orange

Photo of house roofs at night. In the background you can see the flames and smoke of two bonfires

Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Was not expecting to find this when looking for 'Irish' paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago catalogue. 'The Irish Question' by (American) De Scott Evans, 1880s.

Two potatoes hanging from string. Pinned to the wall behind is a handwritten note which says The Irish Question with a line drawing of a shamrock behind

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

I'm back from my Christmas holiday with a broken laptop (thanks flooded overhead locker on the first flight) and no suitcase (sending my best regards to it still on its holidays in Hong Kong), but I had a glorious time! My sister captured my vibe for a lot of the trip well. Back to work tomorrow...

Gorgeous blue sea with an island in the background. Floating in the sea is a person but all you can make out is their sunhat and feet sticking out of the water.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Excitingly, I got a bauble in exchange* for my blood today! And I got a candy cane and a mince pie afterwards! #givebloodsavelives *I believe it's officially more of a thank you for donating not a here's a bit of wood in payment situation.

A little wooden droplet shaped bauble which says Give Blood, Save Lives hanging on a tree

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

A reminder that @edinburghup.bsky.social has their St Andrew's weekend sale on so you can get huge amounts of books for half price! Mine is now £13 - it would be an amazing Christmas present for someone very particular in taste 😂 edinburghuniversitypress.com

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Thanks so much to Sam and Melissa for taking our second-year Liberal Arts students around the Linen Hall Library and introducing them to some of the collections today. Bonus that as we were exploring, we bumped into one of our third years who is interning there at the moment!

A group of students standing (photo is taken from the back) looking at a wall of political posters

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Remind me, is this the important democratic ally, the bastion of freedom in the area, the state with the "most moral army in the world" arresting its own chief prosecutors for investigating violence against Palestinian detainees? The ones that "investigate" themselves? www.bbc.com/news/article...

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

I had such a great time chatting about architecture, art, and beauty today with my third years, esp. as I got to chat about St Josephat's Basilica in Milwaukee, its former life as the Chicago Custom House and Post Office, and the stories of female Polish congregants filling their skirts with rubble.

Slide showing the magnificent interior of St Josephat's Basilica (est. 1901). Inset is a photograph of the Chicago Post Office

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Congratulations to @conorbrockbank.bsky.social for a great @qubhistory.bsky.social seminar paper this afternoon! Not just entertainingly titled and delivered, but with some really interesting insights 🦎

A man in a turtleneck top standing in front on a PowerPoint- the title slide is Carma, Carma, Carma, Carma, Carma, Carmelian: Adjusting Behaviours of the Irish Carmelite Diaspora within their missions

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Very glad to have (finally) bought the catalogue book for the @ulstermuseum.org Akihiko Okamura exhibition, The Memories of Others, especially after we got a tour of the exhibition last week @historylabplus.bsky.social. Gorgeously produced and the photos are wonderful!

A green hardback book with a photograph of milk bottles on the front

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Also, so excited that the gates were open to Shankill Graveyard (original site of St Matthew's so not a cemetery) so I got to pop in there too. I hadn't realised just how old the cemetery was!

A grave marker which says "GARDNER. The precious dust beneath that lies shall at the call of Jesus rise to meet the bridegroom in the skies that day we'll meet again.
NO MORE INTERNMENTS."

Information panel on the wall which used to be part of a small watch house building, erected in c1830

A white monument to the victims of the Irish Famine buried in Shankill Cemetery

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Wonderful first day of #EHOD2025 in Belfast. I made it to the Union Theological College, St Stephen's Church (Millfield), St Matthew's Church, and the North Belfast Workingmen's Club. I've come away with so much information - and even more delight at what's hidden behind Belfast's doors!

Inside of a 19th century library with a beautiful domed yellow ceiling

Entrance porch to St Stephen's Church with complementary grey stained glass windows on either side of the door

A shamrock shaped pink plaster ceiling with large chandeliers

An information panel on the history of the North Belfast Working Men's Club, 1894-2024

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Went to see #InterAlia @nationaltheatre.org.uk tonight and Suzie Miller had done it again! Thankfully (for me) I wasn't quite as inconsolable coming out of this as I was with Prima Facie but, dear lord, what a show. The whole cast was excellent - and so many important conversations raised.

Photo of 'A production from National Theatre' on a big screen

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

It was brilliant to go down to Bedford Street this morning to chat to Annie about plans for the new UNTOLD: Stories of the Irish in the British Army Museum. The team are really trying to make this a co-created space and are keen to hear from people through their Community Feedback Network.

A stained glass triptych window with St Patrick in the middle and the regimental crest of the Royal Irish Rifles on either side

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Just back from an overnight stay on Rathlin Island and, oh my, if you get a chance to visit, you really should! (Also, it seems like a trek from Belfast by public transport but it all actually works brilliantly!)

Two ruined houses in a field looking out over the sea.

The sun setting around the corner of some cliffs so there's a beautiful yellow/pink light shining out on the sea and pebbled coast

Rugged cliffs and some pointy rocky outposts

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

I had been sticking (reluctantly) to the no picking rhubarb during its first year, but as yesterday's storm damaged this stalk, I thought it was only polite to make some lunchtime rhubarb and apple crumble (with very early apples off the tree)

Very long stalk of rhubarb on a glass outdoor table

A bowl with rhubarb and apple crumble in it with a spoon

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Interspersing gardening with reading Olivia Laing's The Garden Against Time is a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, I must say. Especially as the temperature has risen slightly and we're having moments of sunshine (unlike the rest of the week).

View up the garden. There's an apple tree, rhubarb and sweet peas growing. There's washing drying on the line and the lawnmower is still out.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

"I am not fielding questions on food from a time traveling Fenian." Enjoying Conor Mulvagh's laying down of caveats in his interview with the Irish Literary Supplement (all the interviews are great!)

The question is which 3 Irish Historical figures are you having for lunch? Conor firstly outlines his considerations - are they all from the same time, if not, that could slow conversation down. He answers by saying he'd go back to 1911-13 and have lunch with Helena Moloney, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Mary Plunkett

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

And earlier in the day, I got to see two of our Liberal Arts students (well three but only two in person) awarded prizes at the AEL Awards Ceremony. Well done to everyone! Pictured: Diana and Gracie being awarded certificates by Head of School, Kurt Taroff.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Most of these wonderful graduating Liberal Arts students started at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social the same year as me, four years ago. It's absolutely brilliant to get to see them graduate, having completed often truly impressive work and generally being inspiring people to know and teach.

Group of graduating students standing just off a lawn all smiling in their gowns.

Smaller group of students smiling in their gowns with Sophie in the green dress

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Today's harvest from the garden - minus all the ones that I/the slugs/the birds ate. I really love what my garden gives me! And all in the lovely bowl I bought from the Savannah College of Art and Design earlier in the year.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Thank you to Brian Crowley for an excellent public lecture on commemoration, objects, spaces, and the emotions that are held within them! It really sets the scene for today's Dublin Feeling Sites of Commemoration workshop! 👏 @ria.ie @niamhroisin.bsky.social @dublincitylibs.bsky.social

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

So enjoyed our @ria.ie funded and @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social supported workshop on Feeling Sites of Commemoration today! Pictured: the programme for today and the smaller group of walking tour attendees in front of QUB. Looking forward to our public lecture & the Dublin workshop!

Feeling Sites of Commemoration programme featuring Maja Hultman, Liam Campbell, Olwen Purdue, Andrew Newby, and Robyn Atchenson

Group of happy looking people in front of the Lanyon Building - a red brick Tudor Gothic building

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

From a BBC article on the campaign to stop people groping the Molly Malone statue. This uncritical upholding of 'tradition' as 'just something you do, so you do it' says a lot about ritual in public space. Also, the 'we're not taking her clothes off'! point is rather redundant...as it's a statue.

Clip from a BBC article on the campaign to stop people groping the Molly Malone statue. This section is entitled 'Just a tradition' and there's a group from New Jersey, one of them says "I can see the vulgarity of it but it's just a tradition, it's just what you do, so you do it". Another added, "It's fine. You're not taking her clothes off, you're touching an area of her body that's beloved."

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

So many congratulations to @shannondevlin.bsky.social on launching her brilliant new book Siblinghood and Sociability in Nineteenth-Century Ulster! Such a great celebration of all your hardwork! Go buy it now (or order it into your library) from @livunipress.bsky.social

Two women smiling at a table. One is holding up a book.

A pile of books with one stood up. It is the Siblinghood and Sociability book.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

I don't know how I feel about people in the workhouse in 1901 not having their names recorded. In some ways, I understand the need for discretion/anonymity but also, the fact that these people are only remembered in the record by their initials is heartbreaking.

Census return for the South Belfast Workhouse. The inhabitants were only recorded by their initials and then their religion, place of birth, occupation, and then their diseases

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Based on the amount of shorts, you'd think it was warmer than 13 degrees, but it's *so* gorgeous today! We're so lucky to have such a great gardeners at QUB and Botanic next door!

A big tree with a park field behind, people are laying around and playing ball games. Blue sky. Just a gorgeous "summer" scene

Row of white houses with a big tree in full bloom in front of it

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

I highly recommend reading these two one after the other! I mean, if you want to be a bit miserable but also intrigued and soothed.

Two books - Clair Wills' 'Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother's Secrets' and Maeve Brennan's 'The Visitor'

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

It was a pretty excellent day for a walk! Yes, I do spend a lot of time replaying scenes from The Last Kingdom whenever I'm up here...

A landscape scene - sheep in a green field to the forefront, then an estuary, then a hill with houses on

A sign post with Alnmouth one way and Warkworth another. There are sandy dunes behind

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

A bit of delight to brighten your day!

A hazy blue sky over a beach with the tide out. You can see the sea in the background.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Delighted to arrive back in Ireland to find blue skies! I had a wonderful time in Boston and Savannah - looking forward to continuing loads of conversations and thinking through ideas before my next trip!

Photo from an aeroplane window looking out at a blue sky with a few clouds

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

The ice and snow meant that I couldn't get into any of Boston's burial grounds/cemeteries, though I did go on a crypt tour and looked mournfully through the gates of at least 4 burial grounds. Delighted that within 3 hours of arriving, I am happily sat in a cemetery in Savannah!

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

I've spent the last week in Boston thanks to the wonderful @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social @bc-irish-studies.bsky.social faculty exchange. I've had excellent chats with colleagues, grad students & archivists at BC, UMass, and Boston Public Library - so much to ponder and I cannot wait to come back!

A statue of a righteous angel standing on a collapsed one in a white marble nothing hall

The great hall of the Boston Public Library - lots of marble and paintings, including a marble lion

A reservoir wall at the side of a snowy and iced over reservoir

The Irish Famine Memorial statue in Boston

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

It was great to explore two modernist churches in Rosetta, Belfast, this morning! These beautiful exteriors are from St Bernadette's Catholic Church, the interiors (those ceiling murals!) are from St Andrew's Prebyterian Church. Looking forward to returning to both!

Blue but cloudy sky. Underneath are very high grilled windows. It looks very modernist and angular.

Brutalist exterior of a church. This is a side view but a massive cross can be glimpsed on the front tower of the church

Massive stained glass window, from floor level upwards. It looks like fire but with oranges, blues, and purples.

Four curved rectangular embossed mosaics on a white ceiling. One is a phoenix/eagle, one a winged bull, one a kneeling angel, and finally a winged lions. They're all gold, brown, and orange.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Spent a wonderful weekend with big skies, delicious food, and excellent friends. Can highly recommend!

Looking out over forests and a sky that seems to extend forever

More big sky, this time with bracken and green trees in the foreground

A valley with heathers in different colours and a big fir tree in the foreground

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

The furthest I got for group-made timelines were ones stuck across a whiteboard - but exchanged round small groups so collaborative - so this all sounds amazing!

3 pieces of A3 paper stuck on a white board. Each page has a time period in US history - 1750-1800, 1800-1830, 1830-52 - on it and a range of handwriting detailing big events

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

The excitement of returning to the office and finding new books have been delivered while I've been away!

Stack of 7 books largely on Irish (and Irish American) history but also on the architecture of education and financing cotton

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

The Frederick Douglass, Mary Ann McCracken and Winifred Carney ones unveiled in the last year or so in Belfast have all been pretty good, I think. The Limerick ones are terrible though 😂

On the left, a close up on the head and torso of the McCracken sculpture, on the right, Winifred Carney's head and hat

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Greetings from Northumberland! I shall be walking on the beach, hanging out with the dog (and my parents), and going to the pub with my book for the next few days!

Dusk on the beach. Heavy clouds above and lots of grass in amidst the beach and sea

A pinky sky with big clouds looking out over the sea

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

Loving this Armagh Ice Cider (100 apples per bottle, apparently) - a rather tart version of sweet wine! Pairs beautifully with Yorkshire cheeses (and everything else).

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

It just never seems to end - and it has to end. The UK government must do more!

BBC news article from 13 December 2024

A doctor believed to be the last remaining orthopaedic surgeon in northern Gaza has been killed by Israeli tankfire, according to Palestinian officials.

Dr Sayeed Joudeh died on Thursday while he was on his way to work.

He was a surgeon at Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident, but it was investigating.

The grandfather had come out of retirement to help during the war.

Last month speaking at a press conference at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, he held up a placard that read "Save US".

It didn't work.

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Love love loved Conclave! This may be no surprise considering my interests BUT cinematically it's absolutely beautiful, the way they deal with power dynamics (especially but not only gender) is splendid, and the intrigue! Also, suitably #nuntastic!

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

A child may, and probably could, have done it better, but I'm very happy to have spent the afternoon making Christmas tree decorations with friends - and now my tree looks even joyful!

A painted wooden candle and two felt baubles

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

This is the kind of slide I need in all keynote lectures from now on!

Slide: what is a sheep? (There are then 2 photos, 1 of a short woolled sheep, 1 of 3 long woolled sheep)

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Tonight's set up - at least until Shetland begins. (Yes, I need to wipe/repaint my table - ignore the marks!)

The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland book with a glass of wine and a log fire in the background

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Can't believe I've just taught my last Liberal Arts class until September (roll on sabbatical!)! My third years brought a ridiculously delicious chocolate cake and cards to commemorate/celebrate our last class together ❤️ they're now off on study abroad and return to @pipmcgowan.bsky.social

Chocolate cake with "Let them eat [cake]" on in chocolate drops

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Very happy to get the paper version of this great Journal of American Ethnic History double issue this morning!

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Great to see The Marian Hotel at The Lyric tonight. Such an important piece and great (if weeping inducing) to see the stories of Mother and Baby Homes in Northern Ireland highlighted. The work of @seanoconnellqub.bsky.social @livideehistory.bsky.social featured in the literature too!

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Sophie Cooper @sophcocooper.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

An excellent piece, as usual, by @jonathanliew.bsky.social on international sports organisations' lack of action when it comes to Palestine - despite the very real impacts on sports people and sporting infrastructure (nevermind everything else!) www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/n...

Two paragraphs from the Guardian article. It explores the lack of care or action by sporting bodies, especially football organisations, in countering the death of 344 Palestinian footballers since last October or the destruction of Jenin's football stadium, among many other things.

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