Founding and Chairs
Mātai Airana, Mātai Kotirana / The Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies was founded in 2009 at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka / The University of Otago as a result of donations from the Eamon Cleary Trust and the Stuart Residence Halls Council. Their generosity founded the Eamon Cleary Chair in Irish Studies and the Stuart Chair in Scottish Studies.
The Chairs have made substantial contributions to academic and community engagements with the literature, history and culture of Ireland and Scotland, as well as their global diasporas.
Activities and events
The Centre’s programme of events includes conferences, festivals, symposia and workshops and has featured visits from high-profile politicians, major authors and international academics.
Celebrations have included Burns Night, St Patrick’s Day, St Andrew’s Day, Bloomsday and Samhain. We have dissected the Scottish Independence Referendum and the Irish Marriage Equality Referendum.
We have also brought groups together to watch films, discuss Irish and Scottish involvement in local history, learn Gaelic waulking songs, and undertake crime writing masterclasses.
Writing Fellowships
Our CISS Writing Fellowships have brought writers such as Janice Galloway, Nicole Flattery, Damian Barr and Louise Welsh to Otago.
These fellowships support creative practice and foster engagement between writers, students and the wider community.
Meet our current Writing Fellow
Reading Room and publications
Our Reading Room, with its extensive holdings of Irish and Scottish materials, has hosted researchers from across the globe.
The occasional pamphlets series, Celtic Peoples / Tangata Kereti, published by Dalriada Press, has showcased critical interventions from Dame Fiona Kidman and Val McDermid, who holds a Visiting Professorship at CISS.
Explore the Reading Room collection
Students and community engagement
Postdoctoral and PhD students, along with Masters, Honours and Undergraduate students, have given their time and energy to the Centre’s work.
We have worked with community groups including the Dunedin Burns Club and the Otago Scottish Heritage Council, as well as with Consul-Generals and Ambassadors.
We have developed connections with Māori and Pasifika communities, through Professor Long’s prize-winning research on Pacific literature and through our ongoing relationships with Māori poets and novelists.