Current research
Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference
The Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies will be hosting the 27th Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference 20-22 November 2025 at the University of Otago. The theme is ‘Health, Wellness and Care’.
Keynote speakers include Dr Emma Donoghue, author of The Wonder and The Pull of the Stars, Dr Paul Fagan (LMU Munich), lead researcher of ‘Celibacy in Irish Women’s Writing, 1860-1950s’ and Dr Ida Milne (Carlow College), author of Stacking the Coffins: Influenza, War and Revolution in Ireland, Dr Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu, Irish; Massey), author of Hopurangi―Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka.
As the emergency measures of the pandemic fade into memory, but the virus transitions into an endemic part of our medical landscape, we invite scholars and community members to use the vantage point of this new ecosystem – viral, social, political, economic, environmental – to consider what health, wellness and care mean for Ireland and Irish communities worldwide. What understandings of the well-being or disorders of Irish peoples can we gain through the interdisciplinary framework of Irish Studies? From the impact of medical metaphors over time to the movement of medical practitioners over seas, from the slow construction of hospitals to the rapid rise of patients in corridors, from the responsibilities of domestic carers to the glamour of wellness influencers, how can our varied disciplines come together to take the temperature of Irish societies and Irish studies?
For those whose research does not touch on areas of health, wellness or care, we also welcome papers on any aspect of Ireland, Irish Australia, Irish New Zealand, Irish Pacific or the Irish diaspora generally. We hope that conference participants will join us in beautiful Dunedin, but there is also the option to present papers online.
Proposals for papers, creative contributions, panels or roundtables should be emailed to Professor Maebh Long at maebh.long@otago.ac.nz. We have now moved to a rolling deadline for submissions. Please submit your abstract when ready and we will respond every fortnight. The rolling deadline will remain until 31 July 2025.
More information can be found here: https://isaanz.org/cfp-isaanz-27-health-wellness-and-care/
Irish in Aotearoa New Zealand
The Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies was selected by the Embassy of Ireland, New Zealand to lead a research project on the Irish in New Zealand.
The lead investigator was Professor Sonja Tiernan, then Eamon Cleary Chair of Irish Studies and co-director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago. The project was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.
The results were published in December 2020 as Irish in Aotearoa: Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish heritage in New Zealand, and including a foreword by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.
Irish in Aotearoa: Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish heritage in New Zealand is the first national project recording the number of Irish born, people of Irish heritage and with an affinity for Ireland living in New Zealand. The project also engages with a selection of Irish community groups in New Zealand.
An interactive map of New Zealand accompanies the research report. The map includes data for Irish population figures for each region of the country. It is possible to customise your own search relating to the Irish in New Zealand to identify detailed figures according to occupation, income, age and gender for individual regions.
It is hoped that these report findings will inspire further research into shared connections between New Zealand and Ireland.
Irish in Aotearoa: Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish Heritage in New Zealand