1916: how the third-level institutions are marking the centenary

Third-level education institutions across Ireland are now actively engaged in a range of activities for the centenary of the 1916 Rising. Among the many events planned by the third-level institutions are the following.

University College Dublin

University College Dublin will host a number of conferences, most notably "Globalising the Rising – 1916 in context", in February 2016, as well as numerous readings and lecture series on aspects of 1916.

University College Cork

A publication to be called "The Atlas of the Irish Revolution", is being developed by University College Cork, showcasing recent research within Ireland and including scholarly contributions from international experts.

NUI Galway

Conferences at NUI Galway, including "1916 in Global Context: Connections and Comparisons", "Law, Revolution and Sovereignty: Reflections on the Legal Legacy of the 1916 Rising & Declaration of Independence", and "Proclaiming the Revolution" with a focus on the Proclamation.

NUI Galway will also hold public seminars called "James Connolly: life, death and legacy" and "The Irish Citizen Army: how significant was it?"

The university will host a conference called "Celebrating Multilingualism in Ireland 2016" to celebrate multilingualism and its challenges.

NUI Galway will also host the major national academic 1916-2016 conference in November 2016 with academic contributions from all of Ireland’s universities and from a number of leading international figures.

Maynooth University

Maynooth University is planning two major exhibitions featuring material from its extensive digital library, as well as a major conference in May 2016. The university is also joint editor of a monograph series titled The Irish Revolution with Four Courts Press.

Dublin City University

Dublin City University's programme includes a one-month inter-generational exchange initiative built on its Age-Friendly University Initiative, a conference called "Shared Histories: Media Connections between Britain and Ireland", a major seminar entitled "Women and Irish Politics from 1916 to the Good Friday Agreement" and a one-day conference, focused on the lessons of the Northern Ireland conflict, but set in an historical context, called "The Irish experience of conflict and peace: lessons for contemporary conflicts."

University of Limerick

Among the initiatives of the University of Limerick is the publication and launch of a biography of Pádraig Pearse, in collaboration with the American Irish Historical Society and New York University.

Trinity College Dublin

The Centre for Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College Dublin is holding a range of conferences, seminars and outreach events focusing on the 1912-'23 era, including a conference called "Gallant Allies and Saxon Foes – the Rising and the Great War", situating the Rising in its international context, and "Revolution, morality and sexuality", a workshop on the relationship between revolutionary politics and public and personal mores.

Trinity College also plans to have a wide range of other activities among which are a 52-week blog for 2016 called "Changed Utterly: Ireland the Easter Rising" which will publish, digitally, special 1916 research collections that have yet to have been seen before, a number of 1916-related publications, a "Proclamation Day Symposium" on March 14th, 2016, and a conference called "Conflict, Identity and Art" in conjunction with Carlow College and VISUAL Carlow.

Third-level research projects

2016 will also see a great deal of research relating to 1916 coming to fruition, from the universities and the institutes of technology.

The Irish Research Council is supporting a number of researchers throughout the year with a range of projects from the purely academic to the highly practical, including:

Dr Andy Bielenberg, UCC, Counting and identifying the Irish who died in Co Cork during the First World War; developing a new methodology for all-Ireland research;

Dr Sandra Collins, Royal Irish Academy, Assessing and Preserving Digital Collections at Risk for the Decade of Centenaries;

Dr Amber L Cushing, UCD, EastAR Rising: Curating, designing and evaluating the effectiveness of a mobile Augmented Reality walking tour application for the Easter Rising Commemoration;

Dr Róisín Healy, NUI Galway, 1916 in Global Context: Connections and Comparisons;

Prof Gerry Kearns, Maynooth University: "The 1916 Proclamation and 21st Century Irish Civil Society: connecting and commemorating histories and contemporary values;

Dr Maria McHale, Dublin Institute of Technology: Music and 1916; Prof Susan Schreibman, Maynooth University, Letters 1916: Outreach to Second Level;

Prof Gaia Narciso, Trinity College Dublin, The historical roots of Politically-Motivated Rebellion: Evidence from the Irish Revolution;

Dr John O'Brien, Waterford Institute of Technology, Commemoration – Concepts and Contexts;

Dr Maureen O'Connor, UCC, Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markievicz's Art of War in 1916: Sisters in Arms;

Dr Conor Mulvagh, UCD, Universities in Revolution and State Formation;

Dr Katherine O'Donnell, UCD, Revolting Women: Nationalism, Suffrage and Labour, 1912-'24;

Catherine Wilsdon, UCD: Revival to Revolution – Thomas MacDonagh & The Irish Review.