Phase 1, 2000-05
Phase One Projects
Over the initial five-year funding period, research focused on three central themes which reflected staff interests of the three institutions, the opportunities for collaboration, and themes of key significance in Irish-Scottish Studies. These are listed below:
The Diaspora Programme
The Diaspora Programme, consisting of seven projects, was at the heart of the Centre's activities. This reflected the distinctively high emigration rates of the Irish and Scottish peoples since medieval times and their remarkable but contrasting impact on early-modern Europe and the Americas, Australasia and India/south east Asia since c.1600.
- Migration and Mobility from the British Isles to Northern Europe, 1603-1707 (comparative): Dr S Murdoch and Dr A Grosjean (2001-2004).
- American Colonies, Scottish Entrepreneurs and British State Formation in the Seventeenth Century (comparative): Professor A. I. Macinnes and Dr E. Mijers (2003-2005)
- Provincialism and Professional-Imperial Networks: Scottish and Irish Medical Specialisation in the East India Company, 1700-1815 (comparative): Dr A. Mackillop and Ph.D. student (2002-2005).
- Scots in South Africa: Settlement, Mines, Missions and Education, 1800-1914: Professor J. MacKenzie (2002-3).
- The Catholic Irish in the West of Scotland, 1846-1922 (comparative): Dr M. Mitchell (2001-2004).
- Data Compilation and Analysis: Diaspora Studies (comparative): Dr M. Harper and N. J. Evans (2003-2005).
- The Twentieth-Century Diaspora: Emigration from Ireland and Scotland, 1921-2001 (comparative and interdisciplinary): Dr E. Delaney and Dr A. McCarthy (2001-2004)
The Languages of Ireland and Scotland Programme
The Languages of Ireland and Scotland and Ireland Programme explored an area of immense literary, linguistic and historical significance to the cultures of Ireland and Scotland.
- Medieval Bardic Poetry, c.1200-1650 (comparative and interdisciplinary): Professor D McManus and two Research Fellows.
NB this project was funded and directed from Trinity College, Dublin. - The Gaelic Manuscripts of Scotland: Texts, Transmission and Traffic: Dr S. Boll under the direction of Professor D. Dumville (2002-2005)
- Forum for Research in the Languages of Scotland and Ulster (comparative and interdisciplinary): Dr J Kirk and Mr D McClure (2001-2004).
The Literatures of Scotland and Ireland Programme
The Literatures of Ireland and Scotland Programme had as its long-term aim the development of an integrated research strategy offering a comparative approach to the non-Gaelic literatures of the 2 countries.
- Ireland and Scotland: Culture and Society, 1700-2000 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005): Dr L McIlvanney with Dr R Ryan (eds) (2001-2003).
- The Ideology of Celticism in Scotland and Ireland 1760-1914 (comparative and interdisciplinary): Professor G Watson (2001-2003).
- Travel Writing and Ireland: Culture, History, Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2005): Dr G Hooper (2001-2003).
- Perspectives on Irish Identity (interdisciplinary): Dr S. Murphy (2001-2003).
On 12 October 2006 the AHRC were pleased to announce that Phase One of the Centre's activities had been ranked outstanding in accordance with independent peer review assessments and the AHRC Research Committee's final assessment on the potential importance and value of the Centre as a whole.