Scholarship for Cork researcher

A Cork researcher has received a prestigious scholarship in recognition of her “cutting edge” project on Irish women writers in the 19th century press.

Dr Geraldine Brassil, who is a teaching fellow in the Department of the English Language and Literature at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) in Limerick, was one of three recipients of a Research Ireland - Government of Ireland Scholarship at the college.

Overall, there were 290 awardees across the country with total funding of €27.5 million to be shared out.

“I am thrilled to be among the awardees of a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship,” said Dr Brassil.

“As a recipient, I feel it is a validation of my work and a recognition of the value of my research, which focuses on Irish women writers and the nineteenth-century press in Ireland and England.

“Huge thanks to Research Ireland, to my mentor Dr Kathryn Laing, Professor Eugene O'Brien and the English Department at MIC, and to Dr Richard Butler, Dr Julianne Stack and all at the RGSO.”

Dr Brassil and her colleague, Dr Laing, also recently received a CLS INFRA (Computational Literary Studies Infrastructure) Fellowship in partnership with the Trier Center for Digital Humanities, Trier University for 2024-25. The fellowship will facilitate the development of the Irish Women’s Writing Network 1880-1920 website and related datasets.

Fellow MIC researchers Simon Brennan and Evans Amoako Amoah were also awarded Government of Ireland Scholarships for their exceptional research projects.

Celine FitzGerald, Interim CEO of Research Ireland, congratulated the scholarship recipients.

She said: “The 290 awardees have demonstrated through rigorous international assessment the quality of their projects and the capacity to contribute new insights and solutions to technological, scientific, environmental, social, and cultural challenges.”

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Patrick O’Donovan TD, said: “Ireland has a strong reputation for research and innovation and it is vital that we continue to invest in future research leaders who, together, can play a key role in addressing the many challenges we face and the opportunities open to us. The ability to attract and retain excellent researchers within Ireland is key to the success of our knowledge economy for the long-term, and the Government of Ireland programme supports this aim. I wish the many researchers supported under the 2024 programme every success with their projects.”