History at Queen's University Belfast (QUB)

02/10/2026

Government files have revealed how Northern Ireland was affected by the Chernobyl disaster, why a Christmas card sent by Sinn Féin in 2004 caused concern and how plans to develop a 47,000-capacity GAA stadium at Casement Park were being debated over two decades ago.

Read more here: https://bbc.in/3VsWDqK

02/10/2026

Many congrats to Maurice Casey!

Congratulations to Maurice J Casey and John Waddell MRIA for winning the 2026 Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction, in the first joint-awarding of the prestigious prize.

Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals by Maurice J. Casey is published by Footnote Press and The Celtic World: a history by John Waddell is published by Four Courts Press.

The prize, sponsored by the Irish Foreign Ministry, was presented by Royal Irish Academy President, Daniel Carey, and by Eugene Downes, Cultural Director with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, at a ceremony last night which also featured a lecture by the winner of the 2025 Académie française Michel Déon Prize, Fabrice Humbert.

Read more about the Michel Déon Prize ceremony on the RIA website: https://www.ria.ie/2026/10/02/maurice-j-casey-and-john-waddell-jointly-awarded-prestigious-michel-deon-prize-funded-by-the-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade/

📸: Professor Daniel Carey, President of the Royal Irish Academy, Maurice J Casey, joint winner of the 2026 Michel Déon Prize, John Waddell MRIA, joint winner of the 2026 Michel Déon Prize, H.E. Céline Place, Ambassador of France to Ireland and Eugene Downes, Cultural Director, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Photo: Johnny Bambury.

01/10/2026

The History Seminar Series continues this Friday 2nd October, with Alexandra Morris (QUB) presenting her paper, 'Plato's Stepchildren: Disability in Ptolemaic Egypt and the Hellenistic World'.

Dr. Alexandra F. Morris is a disabled Egyptologist, academic, and disability activist tying the past to the present. Her research is on disability in ancient Egypt, the Classical world, and inclusive museums. She holds many roles in academic, disability, heritage, and government sectors. She has cerebral palsy and dyspraxia.

For more information, and to register for this event, please use the link in our bio.

30/09/2026

We have heard the very sad news that Nini Rodgers died yesterday, after a period spent in a nursing home. Her former colleagues in the School remember her fondly, while others will have known Nini through her ground-breaking research on the history of slavery and Ireland.

Nini spent her whole academic career in QUB until her retirement in 2007, but continued to be an active member of the research community well after that.
A memorial event will follow in due course.

29/09/2026

Registration is now open for our online talk by Professor Kieran Connell entitled 'Ireland’s Untold History of Multiculturalism' for this year's CRC Good Relations Week. Wednesday 14 October, 2026, 7pm https://www.eventbrite.com/e/irelands-untold-history-of-multiculturalism-tickets-2002383133856

29/09/2026

📣 The second of our series of talks for Shankill History Month will take place in just over one week's time at the Shankill Road Library 😊. On Thursday the 8th of October we have Professor Olwen Purdue from Queen's University Belfast speaking about the emigration of workhouse boys from Belfast to Canada between 1900 and 1918. Looking forward to seeing you all there! 📣

22/09/2026

Many congratulations to Tom Hulme and Kieran Connell for their promotions to Professor, and to Fiona Magowan, Muiris MacCarthaigh and Eric Morier-Genoud for their professorial progression 🎓

21/09/2026

The History Seminar Series continues this Friday, 2 October, with Becca Mowbray (QUB) delivering her paper ‘Schools at the Crossroads: secondary education for girls in Northern Ireland, 1965-1972’

Becca Mowbray is a PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast, under the supervision of Professor Sean O’Connell, Professor Diane Urquhart, and Dr Caitlin Donnelly. Her thesis is centred on the relationship between education, conflict and gender during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with particular focus on access, attainment and aspiration in post-primary education, and the relationship between history of education and twentieth-century sociological research. Becca holds a BA in History from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MPhil in Modern British History from Newnham College, University of Cambridge.

For more information, and to register for this event, please follow https://ow.ly/ZNKO50ZPIeM

18/09/2026

18/09/2026

The 2,000-acre Clandeboye Estate in County Down was the family home of Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, the first Marquess of Dufferin and Ava. Lord Dufferin was at the zenith of his career as the Viceroy of India from 1884 to 1888, when he oversaw the annexation of Upper Burma in 1885. A large....