After our abstract submission deadline on January 31, we are happy to announce that all acceptance emails have now been sent out. We are looking forward to welcoming young scholars from around the world, working on a wide range of topics in diverse fields.
Here are some of the important deadlines to keep in mind regarding next steps:
16 April 2025 Werner Huber Grant Submission Read more
31 May 2025 Submission of Google form, which will form the basis for the Panel Session on Early Career Research and Career Building with Dr Georgina Nugent, Dr James Little, and Prof. Ondřej Pilný: Read more
The 7th International Postgraduate Conference in Irish Studies, Prague 19–20 September 2025 Centre for Irish Studies, Charles University Contact: postgradprague@gmail.com
Keynote event: The conference will feature a Panel Session on Early Career Research and Career Building with Dr Georgina Nugent (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, University of Vienna), Dr James Little (University of Cyprus), and Prof Ondřej Pilný (Charles University).
Questions and areas of discussion for the Panel Session may be submitted by participants before the conference.
CALL FOR PAPERS The International Postgraduate Conference in Irish Studies, hosted by the Centre for IrishStudies at Charles University in Prague, invites paper proposals on the topic of “Voices from the Margins: Ireland Seen and Unseen.” The biannual conference aims to offer space for productive discussion between graduate students working in Irish Studies, including those whose background extends beyond the literary context.
In recent decades, the previously monolithic landscape of Irish Studies has become more and more inclusive. Women’s writing has been in focus for many years now, with recent publications such as Deirdre Flynn and Ciara L. Murphy’s edited volume Austerity and Irish Women’s Writing and Culture, 1980–2020 (2022) and Claire Bracken and Tara Harney-Mahajan’s edited collection Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and Contemporary Women’s Writing: Feminist Interventions and Imaginings (2021), showing that there is still more to be said. Migration and contested hybrid identities at home and abroad continuously serve as the topic of Irish historical, (auto-)biographical, and fictional publications. Own-voices narratives by authors like Melatu Uche Okorie and academic studies like Pilar Villar Argáiz’s LiteraryVisions of Multicultural Ireland: The Immigrant in Contemporary Irish Literature (2016) have been important contributions to the area of Irish studies. Interestingly, it is in the areas of young adult literature and genre fiction, that we tend to find the most diverse cast of characters, including stories focused on LGBTQ+ characters. The recovery of old and discovery of new queer narratives is a vital part of the study of Ireland, which in 2015 became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. The Trans* Research Association of Ireland, founded in 2023, is one example of the exceptional work being done in the field of queer studies in connection to Ireland. We are looking for contributions on both dominant and overlooked voices and discourses in the field of Irish Studies, regardless of discipline, in order to open up conversations between Ireland seen and unseen.
Paper topics may include:
(re)writing traditions and identities
minority voices and languages
Ireland at home and abroad
national and transnational considerations
established and reconsidered literary canons
popularart and genre writing
queer histories, literatures, and art
femininities and masculinities
invisible and obscured landscapes
Papers should be related to the topic of PhD research and address one or more of the issues mentioned above. Abstracts of 250 words should be submitted to the organisers at postgradprague@gmail.com by 31 January 2025. These must include the title of the paper, a bio note of 50-100 words, your e-mail address, and institutional affiliation, as well as any special AV requirements for the presentation. The conference is planned as an in-person event.
In order to provide detailed feedback for each paper, the conference format will consist of 10-minute paper summaries followed by responses from nominated participants. They will provide feedback to the complete paper as submitted in advance and their response will be followed by a general discussion. Participants should expect to be appointed as respondents to other papers. Complete papers are to be in the region of 3,000 words. The submission date for complete papers is 15 June 2025. There is no registration fee for the conference.
The conference takes place under the aegis of the European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies (EFACIS) and is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.
All participants of the conference must be EFACIS members. To become an EFACIS member, please contact the EFACIS coordinator at efaciscoord@efacis.eu. Two Werner Huber Grants to help cover travel and accommodation expenses will be available via EFACIS. More information: https://irishpostgradprague.ff.cuni.cz/werner-huber-grants/.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any further inquiries.
Conference Committee: Marie Gemrichová, Nathalie Lamprecht, Iqra Nasim, Ondřej Pilný, KláraWitzany Hutková, Andrea Zvoníčková
From 22-23 September 2023, the Centre for Irish Studies, Prague had the honour of hosting emerging scholars from all over the world for Reading Ireland in the 21st Century: The 6th International Postgraduate Conference in Irish Studies. Papers dealt with a variety of topics from the areas of history, poetry, drama, and fiction – all of excellent quality. We are excited to know that the future of Irish Studies is in good hands!
We have collected some impressions from the conference here:
If delegates have images they wish to share, please feel free to send them to postgradprague@gmail.com with a brief note letting us know that we can share them on this website.
We are happy to announce that participants can apply for one of two Werner Huber grants, kindly provided by EFACIS. The documents required are:
– CV – conference abstract – 350 words outlining reasons for applying for the EFACIS Werner Huber grant – two references from academic staff, one of whom should be the PhD supervisor (if applicable in home institution)
Selection criteria: 1. Relevance to conference theme 2. Originality 3. Circumstances of delegate concerned 4. Standard of academic writing apparent in proposal
Receivers of a Werner Huber Grant are expected to write a short testimonial for the EFACIS homepage after the event in Prague.
The submission date for complete papers and ECR questionnaire is 11 June 2023.
The conference format consists of 10-minute paper summaries by authors, followed by a response from the nominated participant and a general discussion. By the end of June, you will receive another participant’s paperto which you will be expected to respond during the appointed session.
Part of the conference will include an Early Career Research and Career Building session with Dr Deirdre Flynn, Dr Petra Johana Poncarová and Prof Ondřej Pilný. To make this session as useful for participants as possible, we kindly ask you to fill in the following Google form, to gauge topics to be addressed, also by June 11th. This form is anonymous.
Link to the form: https://forms.gle/iyFcmFG2gV47bedv9
The conference will feature a Panel Session on Early Career Research and Career Building with Dr Deirdre Flynn (Mary Immaculate College, Limerick), Dr Petra Johana Poncarová (Charles University) and Prof Ondřej Pilný (Charles University).
CALL FOR PAPERS
Paper proposals are invited for the biannual international postgraduate conference organised by the Centre for Irish Studies at Charles University, Prague. As in previous years, we wish to offer discussion space for graduate students working in Irish Studies, including those whose background extends beyond the literary context. The title ‘Reading Ireland in the Twenty-first Century’ hopes to inspire researchers from various disciplines and invite a wide range of approaches to Irish Studies. It aims to open a discussion among emerging scholars of Irish Studies today, to give insights into the different methodologies and theoretical backgrounds being applied throughout the field, and to enable exchange between scholars from different disciplines who all share one thing in common: an interest in Ireland.
The conference takes place under the aegis of the European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies (EFACIS) and is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.
Paper topics may include:
• Reaching beyond established boundaries • Minority voices and languages • Feminisms, masculinities, queer and gender studies • Rewriting traditions and shared legacies • Memory and trauma studies • Space and place • Precarity and liminality • Folklore, customs, and material culture
Papers should be related to the topic of PhD research and address one or more of the issues mentioned above. Abstracts of 250 words should be submitted to the organisers at postgradprague@gmail.com by 31 January 2023. These must include the title of the paper, your name, e-mail address and institutional affiliation, as well as any special AV requirements for the presentation. The conference is planned as an in-person event.
In order to provide detailed feedback for each paper, the conference format will consist of 10- minute paper summaries followed by responses from nominated participants. They will provide feedback to the complete paper as submitted in advance and their response will be followed by a general discussion. Participants should expect to be appointed as respondents to other papers. Complete papers are to be in the region of 3,000 words. The submission date for complete papers is 11 June 2023. There is no registration fee for the conference.
Do not hesitate to contact us with any further inquiries.
Conference Committee: Marie Gemrichová, Klára Hutková, Nathalie Lamprecht, Ondřej Pilný
