Annual Conference

Ballynahinch Castle, Connemara. Built in 1754, it was home to Richard ‘Humanity Dick’ Martin, famous animal lover who also established Kirwan’s Lane Theatre in Galway in 1783.

The 2024 Annual Conference of the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society/An Cumann Éire san Ochtú Céad Déag is scheduled to take place in the University of Galway on 20-21 June 2024.

The conference will feature keynote addresses from Professor Tríona Ní Shíocháin (Maynooth), Professor Emerita Gillian Russell (York), and Professor Jim Watt (York).

The Call for Papers and applications for postgraduate bursaries are now open. Further details on the conference venues, travel and accommodation will be forthcoming in due course.

The conference is being organised by Prof. David O’Shaughnessy.

Call for Papers

Proposals are hereby invited for twenty-minute papers (in English or Irish) on any aspect of eighteenth-century Ireland, including its history, literature, language, and culture. The Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society is a multidisciplinary organisation and we welcome papers from all relevant disciplines, including interdisciplinary and comparative research studies.

The conference, as always, warmly welcomes proposals on all aspects of eighteenth-century history and culture. But as 2024 marks both the 250th anniversary of Oliver Goldsmith’s death and the publication of the first two volumes of The Collected Works of Oliver Goldsmith (The Citizen of the World [1762] and The Vicar of Wakefield [1766]), to be published by Cambridge University Press in 8 volumes, we welcome in particular proposals related to Goldsmith, his works, and his broader milieu. Proposals related to the novel, representations of rural/urban life, religion, travel literature, journalism, orientalism or other topics that speak to The Citizen of the World or The Vicar of Wakefield would also be welcomed. We particularly encourage early career scholars to submit proposals, as well as those working with new methodological and theoretical perspectives. Scholars wishing to form a panel for a specific theme are free to do so.

The conference will feature keynote addresses from Professor Tríona Ní Shiocháin (Maynooth), Professor Emerita Gillian Russell (York), and Professor Jim Watt (York).

Proposals for papers and potential panels should be submitted by e-mail to David O’Shaughnessy by Friday 2 February 2024 (now extended to 16 February): [email protected]

Proposals should include: the speaker’s name, institutional affiliation, title of paper, and a 250-word abstract.

Cuirfear fáilte ar leith roimh pháipéir agus phainéil i nGaeilge ar ghné ar bith de shaol agus shaíocht na Gaeilge san ochtú céad déag. Iarrtar ar dhaoine ar mhaith leo páipéar 20 nóiméad a thairiscint, a n-ainm, a n-institiúid, teideal an pháipéir mar aon le hachoimre 250 focal a chur chuig [email protected] ag an seoladh r-phoist thuas.

Postgraduate Bursaries

The Society is also pleased to invite applications for a limited number of postgraduate bursaries for the 2024 Annual Conference. The bursaries will cover conference registration fees, the conference dinner, and accommodation (2 nights). Applicants for the bursaries should include a cv (2 pages max) and a statement (1 page max) on how attendance of the conference will be of benefit to their research with their paper proposal. They should also ask 1 referee to write in support to [email protected] by Friday 2 February. Successful applicants should hold valid ECIS membership at the time of the conference.

Any other informal queries should be addressed to David O’Shaughnessy.

Click here to download the call for papers.

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