New research grant for local historians

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin T.D., has announced a new research grant for local history, in partnership with the Royal Irish Academy.

The Commemorations Bursary Scheme has been established to encourage and support new local research and local history studies relating to the commemoration of events associated with the early years of the State as well as other significant historical anniversaries, events and themes.

Catherine Martin welcomed the new scheme:

I am very pleased to welcome the 2024 Commemorations Bursary in honour of our dear friend and valued member of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations, Dr Éamon Phoenix.

Following the great success of the Decade of Centenaries Bursary, the new Commemoration Bursary is a wonderful legacy of the programme and a fitting tribute to a champion of archives, local history and local communities, the late Dr Éamon Phoenix.

This new bursary scheme is a response to the continued interest from communities and historians from across the island of Ireland in their local history.

The Royal Irish Academy has to be commended for their considered and ambitious approach in the delivery of the bursary to date. I am delighted that my Department can continue to support the Royal Irish Academy in this new phase of Commemorations and the important and often unacknowledged work of local historians in exploring the complexities of our past.

Professor Pat Guiry, President of the Royal Irish Academy, reflected:

The Academy is delighted to be partnering again with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media on this Commemorations Bursary Scheme. It is a great initiative that will allow local historians, independent scholars, and individuals working in local cultural institutions and libraries to bring to life the vibrant history of their local areas. The local histories that emerge will complement the earlier work that the Decade of Centenaries Bursary Schemes produced in 2022 and 2023 and enhance our understanding and appreciation of key historical developments.

It is anticipated that a number of awards under the scheme will be made annually. Understanding the varying financial requirements of projects, applications will be invited for amounts ranging from €1,500 to €10,000. The bursaries will be awarded to individual researchers across a wide range of themes which recognise the importance of the commemoration of events. Applications for the scheme will open on Thursday, 9 May. For further information and scheme guidelines, please visit the RIA website where you will also find a list of suggested research themes to assist applicants. The closing date for applications is Friday, 9 August 2024 at 5.00 pm.

The development of this scheme follows the success of the Decade of Centenaries Bursary scheme which was established as part of the Decade of Centenaries programme and ran in 2022 and 2023. The Decade of Centenaries Bursary scheme saw support for a wide range of projects such as Medbh Gillard’s ‘Beekeeper, Bagpiper, Bombmaker; The life and legacy of Irish Patriot Donnchadh MacNiallghuis 1887-1954’; Brian Hanley’s podcast series entitled ‘Dirty War in Dublin’; and Síobhra Aiken’s examination of ‘Languages of Forgetting: Multilingual Responses to the Irish Civil War (1922-1923)’. Details of funded projects can be found on the RIA website.