History; Focus on

For those undergraduate students of history who have caught the bug and want to make history their vocation, several international quality academic options await them at postgraduate level in all Irish universities. Whereas before, you avidly studied the history that others have written, at fourth level you have your first taste of compiling the history that others shall read.

Postgraduate study involves the deepening of knowledge that was acquired at third level, and the honing of skills such as historical analysis and evaluation, research methods and learning to appreciate historical argument. Theses provide the opportunity to carry out an in-depth analysis of a particular period and specific resources that are of personal interest to the student.

You should investigate the areas of speciality held by academic staff of the history departments in each of the universities to see if you’re particular interests are catered for. So for example, you might be attracted to local history in Maynooth, Medieval Studies in UCD, the History of Irish Media and Journalism in UCC, or The Politics of Patriotism in the Eighteenth Century in St Patrick’s College. Producing a piece of original research on a topic that excites you is a great opportunity for anyone with a passion for history.

Once a history MA, MPhil or MLitt programme is completed, a student can make the choice to pursue a career in academia by progressing to doctoral level, or seek employment in another industry, as many of the skills they will have acquired are transferable.

In Trinity for example, Eunan O’Halpin, Postgraduate Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Humanities and Histories, affirms the multi vocational relevance of their history programmes: ‘Whatever her specialism, a Histories MPhil graduate will have formidable research skills, powers of analysis, expression and presentation, and the capacity to make and to meet tight and demanding deadlines. Our MPhil programmes also emphasise group work, problem solving and other interpersonal activities, which enhance graduates’ abilities in any walk of life.’

A small sample of the career areas outside academia that are open to history postgraduates would include teaching, the media, archival and library roles, and the heritage industry.

But what of the many history postgraduates who progress to a PhD and a career in academia? John O’Callaghan of the University of Limerick is a student aiming to do just that.

Graduating from UL in 2001, John enrolled in a taught History MA in 2003, even though it was possible to enrol directly into a PhD programme; ‘I did that because I’d been out of the country for a couple of years and I wanted a set of research skills that would stand to me doing a PhD later, and the MA they do here is very good in that regard.’

Although John’s MA dissertation was on the topic of history teaching in secondary schools after independence, he was free to change subject when submitting a PhD proposal in 2005, and he could therefore settle upon a different title: The IRA and the War of Independence in Co Limerick (1916-1921). How did he come to decide on this topic?

’Firstly, if you’re doing a PhD, it has to be a viable topic and it has to be possible to do an original thesis on it – it meets those criteria anyway. Secondly, I have a personal interest in it, I’m from Limerick and it hasn’t been done before – there’s a lot of room for work on it. I chose to study in UL for academic reasons, there are sources here and it’s good to live in the place where it all happened.’

Thankfully, the College of Humanities in UL and the IRCHSS (Irish Research Council for the Humanities & Social Sciences) liked his research topic too, as John received a scholarship from each. ‘Funding is an important issue for a lot of PhD students; they need to live as well as study. People who are not so lucky might have to do a lot of teaching or outside jobs, but the problem there is that it eats into the time for your own research,’ he says.


Not surprisingly John’s thesis demands a lot of archival work, and despite the abundance of source materials in the University and City Library, this involves travelling as far afield as Dublin, London and Boston. Aside from documentary research, he has also ‘interviewed the sources of authority and knowledge, including witnesses who are still alive or their relatives if not.’

The rest of John’s research time is spent in the University; ’We’re lucky enough in UL in that we each get our own desk, which as far as I know PhD students don’t really have in a lot of other places. We’ve our own computers as well so we’re well looked after.’

John views favourably the tutorials and occasional lectures he provides in UL: they are ‘an apprenticeship for an academic career’…and he gets well paid! If all goes to plan he will complete his PhD in 2008 and start working as a lecturer in a third level institution. So will we be seeing any of the fruits of his research on sale in book form? ‘Well I suppose a lot of people try to get their PhD thesis published as a book, that’s the ideal anyway, or you can just publish articles as you go. If you want to get a job, you have to publish work basically.’