Niamh Gallagher appointed University Lecturer in Modern Irish History

The Faculty of History is delighted to announce that Niamh Gallagher – currently Lecturer in Modern British and Irish history – has been appointed to the three-year University Lectureship in Modern Irish History, generously funded by the Irish Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs’ Peace and Reconciliation Fund. This is the first lectureship entirely dedicated to the study and teaching of modern Irish history at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Gallagher and her colleagues, Professor Eugenio Biagini and Professor Richard Bourke, met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney T.D., this morning, Friday 4 June, at the Irish Embassy in London. Minister Coveney stated:

“We want to build and strengthen the relationship between these islands into the future, and an important part of that is fostering a genuine knowledge of each other and a deeper mutual understanding. The support for this lectureship offers students in the University of Cambridge an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and understanding of Irish history. This is one of a number of ways in which the Reconciliation Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs supports academic work across these islands in contributing to wider reconciliation as envisioned in the Good Friday Agreement.”

Professor Alexandra Walsham, Chair of the Faculty of History, said, “The Faculty of History at Cambridge is delighted and honoured to be the host institution for this special Lectureship in Modern Irish History. It looks forward to working with Dr Gallagher to enhance understanding of the complex relationships between Britain, Ireland and the wider world, and to advancing the Peace and Reconciliation agenda over the next three years.”

Dr Gallagher comes from Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland and is a Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Her first book, Ireland and the Great War: A Social and Political History (Bloomsbury, 2020) is the first work of Irish history to win the Royal Historical Society's Whitfield Prize, awarded to a new author for the best work in either British or Irish history. She has made several media appearances, most recently on the President of Ireland’s Machnamh 100 series. She is part of the Independent Historical Advisory Panel appointed by the UK government to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland, and also leads the Mether Initiative at St Catharine's College, where future leaders, academics and policymakers can connect and learn from the history of Britain and Ireland.

Dr Gallagher said, “I’m really thrilled to be appointed Lecturer in Modern Irish History. The Lectureship comes at a timely moment in the aftermath of Brexit, as the full implications of the new arrangements take effect across these islands. As a historian who sits at the nexus of Irish, British and Northern Irish history, I hope to facilitate greater awareness in my teaching and public history engagements of the important connections between them.”

Irish history at Cambridge has long focused on issues pertaining to conflict, diversity and reconciliation between the communities in Ireland, the role of British policy in the crisis of the Union, and the Irish diaspora in the wider world. The Lectureship will be a valuable addition to an existing, active research culture in Irish history, giving it a more prominent place in the Faculty’s modern history provision.

For further details of the Reconciliation Fund, see www.dfa.ie/reconciliation

Image:Dr Niamh Gallagher with Minister Simon Coveney and colleagues, Professors Richard Bourke and Eugenio Biagini, at the Embassy of Ireland, 4 June 2021