HistoryHub
Connecting past and present
UCD offers a variety of study options and entry pathways, ranging from full-time degrees to short-term courses for pure interest.
Lifelong Learning offers all adult learners the opportunity to explore history, and many other subjects of their choice, without the pressure of an examination.
Open Learning means you can fit university around your life. Whether you’re looking to progress your career, or you’ve just finished school and wondering if university is for you, Open Learning fits around your schedule and gives you all the benefits of being a full-time student, without the full-time commitment.
For 2024 / 2025 UCD School of History has a range of course options available as part of the Open Learning and Lifelong Learning programmes.
UCD’s Lifelong Learning Programme is a series of specific interest courses that are participative, engaging, and facilitated by experts in their field.
The courses are short in duration, generally running over 4 or 8 sessions, and are open to all adult learners. They provide a unique opportunity to explore a subject without examinations.
The Lifelong Learning options from UCD School of History for Autumn 2024 are:
The Lifelong Learning options from UCD School of History for autumn 2024 are now available to book. More information on the courses is available below.
For registration and fee details go to the UCD ALL website, call 01 7167123 or email: all@ucd.ie
This course will explore the history of the long nineteenth century Ireland from the 1798 rebellion and the Act of Union through to the 1916 Rising. It will examine the importance of key figures such as Daniel O’Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell and will assess the impact of key social, economic, political and cultural changes. It will also outline vital moments in Irish history such as the Famine, the Land War and the cultural revival of the late nineteenth century. The course will conclude by exploring the residual impact of the nineteenth century and its influence on the Irish revolution and the evolution of modern Ireland.
Tutor: Professor Paul Rouse
Location: National Library of Ireland
Start date: 1 October 2024
Fee: €100
Book here.
This course offers an introduction to family history in Ireland. It acquaints learners with the methods and sources for conducting effective Irish family history research. It places a strong emphasis on examining online Irish genealogical sources, particularly those sources dating to the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include census records, civil records, church records and land records. In addition to these categories of source, some attention will be given to estate records, cemeteries, professional records, and extant Early Modern sources. Students will be given the opportunity to locate and critically analyse and evaluate different types of sources.
Tutor: Dr Thomas Tormey
Location: Newtownpark Avenue Pastoral Centre, Blackrock
Start date: 30 September 2024
Fee: €185.
Book here.
*There will be a free taster lecture for this course on 21 August 2024. Book here.
Experiences with hunger and eating cut across all time periods and societies. And yet, the role and relationships of foods are ever changing. Every food has a history. These play out through global and local contexts, with globalisation and transport networks bringing new products to our plates and in so doing changing diets and palates, while also entrenching power structures and environments. In this course we will explore the history of food using a global perspective. In so doing we will cover larger historical concepts, from gender and environmental histories to colonialism, capitalism, and culture. We will track key food items to explore connected and entangled histories that provide learners with the understanding of global history centred on specific (and edible) materials. From potatoes and pineapples to tea and cocktails, this course will make historical stops from the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries in order to investigate societal changes and commodities networks. This course provides the historical contexts and gives an introduction to larger events through the lens of common foods that most learners will have tasted but will never look at the same way again
Tutor: Dr Jeremiah Garsha, Assistant Professor in Global History at UCD.
Location: UCD (Belfield)
Start date: 30 September
Fee: €100.
Book here.
*There will be a free taster lecture for this course on 21 August 2024. Book here.
The six months after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921 were among the most violent in 20th century Irish history. In the six counties of what was now Northern Ireland a hellish cycle of sectarian atrocity had taken hold. Uncertain about the British commitment to Northern Ireland, Ulster loyalists saw the creation of a new Irish National Army – led by former IRA insurgents – as an existential threat and lashed out at what they perceived to be a ‘disloyal’ population. Meanwhile, republicans – covertly supported by the provisional government in Dublin – sought to make Northern Ireland ungovernable through burnings and assassinations while also waiting for a decisive “northern offensive” supported by the National Army. This course will explore unionist, loyalist and nationalist / republican movements in Ulster from 1920 and 1922. The course will begin with the Government of Ireland Act that effectively partitioned Ireland and jettisoned three counties from the Ulster unionist movement. It will then trace the first riots and burnings – including the shipyard expulsions of the summer of 1920 – that sparked two years of sustained violence. The course will analyse the leaders, networks and strategies of various armed paramilitary or insurgent groups including the Ulster Imperial Guards, the Ulster Special Constabulary, the Irish Republican Army and Hibernian Knights. Finally, students will examine the roles of the provisional / Free State government, the National Army and those of the British government and British Army in responding to (and directing) violence in the north of Ireland.
Tutor: Dr Edward Burke, Assistant Professor in the History of War at UCD.
Location: UCD (Belfield)
Start date: 2 October
Fee: €100.
Book here.
In America dissent is frequently seen as patriotic, debate and disagreement are welcomed. Dissenters have fought to make changes where they believe that the accepted norm in politics or society is denying them or others their rights. They are unafraid to stand up and have their voices heard, to disagree with the government or majority opinion. The voices of dissent are amplified even more so during a presidential election cycle. This course will consider some of the dissenting voices that have been to the fore in bringing about change in America. From politicians to social activists, civil rights leaders to immigrants, from environmentalists to union organisers we will explore how their beliefs and experiences challenged the status quo in America and helped change and shape the nation. In particular we will examine how these voices have played a role in presidential election campaigns from JFK to Biden including the 2024 presidential election.
The course does not presuppose an in-depth knowledge of American history or politics.
Tutor: Dr Sarah Feehan
Location: UCD Belfield
Start date: 30 September 2024
Fee: €185.
Book here.
*There will be a free taster lecture for this course on 22 August 2024. Book here.
Click here for more information on the Lifelong Learning history courses.
For registration and fee details go to the UCD ALL website, call 01 7167123 or email: all@ucd.ie
This course aims to introduce students to the history of the decolonisation of Africa after World War II. We will analyse what caused the break-up of the long-established empires such as the British and French and in doing so will explore factors such as economic forces, independence movements and international pressures. We will also consider how African countries gained their independence and the obstacles their leaders faced in building their new nations. We will discuss how the leaders of the newly independent countries addressed the political, economic, and social challenges facing them as they set about building their nation. Finally, we will assess the ways African countries continue to experience the legacy of colonialism and decolonisation. The course does not presuppose an in-depth knowledge of the history of Africa or decolonisation.
Tutor: Dr Sarah Feehan
Location: Belfield
Start date: 29 January 2024
Fee: €160.
Book here.
*There will be a free taster lecture for this course entitled ‘Why did the British Empire End?’ on 18 January 2024. Book here.
Open Learning means you can fit university around your life. Whether you’re looking to progress your career, or you’ve just finished school and wondering if university is for you, Open Learning fits around your schedule and gives you all the benefits of being a full-time student, without the full-time commitment.
Open Learning allows you to select the modules you wish to study, set the pace of your study, and whether you undertake the module assessment.
The School of History at UCD is the perfect environment for anyone who has a love of history.
The modules – all taught by experts in their field who bring their new research to the classroom – create for everyone the opportunity to explore the past. Sometimes this can mean looking afresh at what might appear to be familiar subjects and on other occasions it means investigating entirely new areas of study. It is this willingness to embrace new ideas and new approaches that defines the School of History.
The details of the Open Learning modules at UCD School of History for 2024 / 2025 are now available.
Since 2011, researchers from a range of disciplines including History, Irish, English, Archaeology and Art History, have presented papers at Tudor and Stuart Ireland conferences. History Hub, in association with Real Smart Media, has produced more than 290 podcasts from these conferences.
The Military Welfare History Network provides a networking and dissemination platform for scholars who are research active in military welfare history.
In 2024 the Military Welfare History Network (MWHN) hosted its third international conference at the University of Leeds on 20 and 21 June. Led by Prof Jessica Meyer, the organising team hosted a two-day event at Leeds on the theme of ‘Economies of Military Welfare: conversations between past and present’. The conference was generously supported by the University of Leeds and the Economic History Society. Two papers recorded at the conference are now available to podcast.
History Hub presents a series of interviews between our editor Dr Irial Glynn and a number of leading experts on the history of xenophobia. The key question the series grapples with is: what causes xenophobia? Why are certain people hostile towards or afraid of immigrants or of people who come from different cultural backgrounds? Does it stem from anger related to a real or perceived decline in living standards? Does it reflect discomfort with the pace of social change or increasing societal diversity? Or is it connected to the arrival of charismatic and innovative politicians and well-organised far right parties?
UCD offers a variety of study options and entry pathways, ranging from full-time degrees to short-term courses for pure interest. Lifelong Learning offers all adult learners the opportunity to explore a subject of their choice without the pressure of an examination. Open Learning is a flexible way of studying history part-time at UCD. Explore your UCD History options for the coming year.
