About the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies

Background

The University of New South Wales has a long tradition in the field of Irish and Irish-Australian history, most notably through the pioneering work of Professor Patrick O’Farrell, the leading historian of Irish-Australia, who was appointed to a personal chair in History at UNSW in 1972 and was the first Scientia Professor from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Out of this tradition, and with strong involvement from the Irish community, grew a campaign to establish a professorship in Irish Studies at UNSW. In a speech at Sydney Opera House on 8 September 1998, the then President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, announced plans to establish a Chair in Modern Irish Studies at UNSW and an endowment committee was formed to advance the campaign. Various fundraising events were organized and many individuals within the Irish community donated generously. A substantial bequest from the late Sarah Ellen Lomasney, and a generous donation from the Australian Ireland Fund, secured the funding to make an appointment. In April 2010 Rónán McDonald became the inaugural ‘Australian Ireland Fund Chair in Modern Irish Studies’.

The John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies, under the directorship of Professor McDonald, was subsequently established to provide an institutional structure to support Irish Studies at UNSW. The GII aims to promote research into global Irish Studies through an avowedly innovative and interdisciplinary ethos. The Irish diaspora, and the cultural circulation of Irishness around the world, is a central concern of the institute. The institute aims to be outward-facing and publically engaged and has inaugurated a public lecture series entitled ‘Global Irish Studies Talks’.

Collaborations

The institute is the sister of its namesake in Ireland, the ‘John Hume Institute of Global Irish Studies’ at University College Dublin, founded in 2007. This pairing between these two centres of Irish Studies will enable research initiatives on Irish and Irish diasporic issues on both sides of the world. Like UNSW, UCD is a Universitas 21 member institution, and this grouping affords opportunities to make the activities of the Global Irish Institute global in scale. The GII is affiliated to the Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand and will be hosting the annual ISAANZ conference in 2013.



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