Teaching
Whether in small groups or the lecture theatre, I am a passionate teacher. I also have extensive experience supervising doctoral students and mentoring postdoctoral fellows in History and across the Arts and Humanities. For me, it is about using different pedagogies to inspire student learning, while never being afraid to innovate or make mistakes. I believe that education informs research and vice versa.
Our students and early career researchers are the lifeblood of our disciplines and indeed a primary strength of our University. Whether at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, a Trinity education transforms people’s lives. Recognising, inspiring, and nurturing students’ potential is and always has been a defining hallmark of our University.
I have had the privilege of teaching hundreds of undergraduates and postgraduates at Trinity, from Senior Freshmen taking the ‘Ireland and the wider world, 1500–1800’ course to MPhil students on the ‘War and Society in Early Modern Ireland’ module. Over the course of my career, I have also taught students at Yale, the University of Aberdeen, New York University and Ashoka University in New Delhi.
Supervision
I have worked with 11 fantastic PhD students, 8 talented postdoctoral fellows, and 9
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund Fellows at Trinity over the past 17 years. Many of my students have gone on to become teachers or hold academic positions in universities in Ireland and the UK.
In addition, I have served as an external examiner for theses in the English and History Faculties at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, New South Wales, Galway, UCD and Maynooth.
Mentoring
I am dedicated to supporting and nurturing emerging scholars.
During my time as Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, I got to know over 200 early career researchers and fostered a real sense of community within each cohort. Our weekly research coffee mornings remain one of the highlights of my tenure.
As the Principal Investigator (PI) of an international Global Humanities Institute on the crises of democracy, I designed a successful mentorship scheme for 17 arts and humanities early career researchers from 10 countries (5 continents) and created a lasting research network.