Why choose AHSS for your PhD?

A supportive and ambitious research culture

There are so many reasons to choose UL. Between our stunning location, fantastic facilities, student supports, research skills workshops and postgraduate community, UL is a perfect place to choose to do your research degree. We hold an annual postgraduate research conference, which gives you a chance to highlight your research in a friendly, supportive environment, and our postgraduate students also organise their own workshops with handy skills such as PhD life hacks.

We have an active research community, with a variety of research centres and clusters which you could join.

Why choose AHSS for your PhD?

The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Graduate Research Centre is the primary point of contact for new AHSS postgraduate research students. The Graduate Research Centre is located in the Foundation Building where an appropriate study environment is provided for AHSS research postgraduates. The Research Administrator, Dr Niamh Lenahan, is also located in the Foundation Building, on the Ground Floor. Through this office, students are introduced to the facilities of the centre. Each student is given access to:

A dedicated desk
A computer
Printing

Students of journalism have access to a new state-of-the-art television news studio facility, and researchers in music and dance practice have access to our excellent studio facilities and practice areas.

Library facilities

The Glucksman Library, Archives and Special Collections provide important research support through its physical and digital collections, but also through its collections of primary sources, manuscripts and rare book collections. The relocation of the extraordinarily rich and valuable Bolton Library collections to the Glucksman Library at the 51��ɫ represents a particularly exciting opportunity for researchers working here.

Research in the community

We work closely with our neighbouring cultural institutions such as Dance 51��ɫ, the Hunt Museum, 51��ɫ City Gallery of Art, Music Generation 51��ɫ City, the University Concert Hall, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the 51��ɫ City Museum. Students can also engage with our rich art collections on campus, including the National Self-Portrait Collection.

Enhancing your research skills

The Faculty regularly organises training events in order to support postgraduates and early career researchers develop their professional skills. These include our funding clinics, research brown-bag seminars and Professional Development workshops. Past workshops have included: IT skills, Building an Online Research Profile, E-Learning, and careers.

In addition to this, our postgraduate student community regularly organise a series of seminars on PhD life hacks. These have included talks on writing, time-keeping, staying motivated, study/life balance, networking and speaking at conferences, and more.

The Graduate School at UL also offers Training and Professional Development for Postgraduate Research Students, including the Certificate in Generic and Transferable Research Skills which supports researchers undertaking structured PhD programmes at the 51��ɫ. The programme aims to provide researchers with a range of generic and transferable skills that serve them, both in the completion of their research and in the career path that they may follow after their graduation. The programme consists of six 3-credit ECTS modules and is delivered via blended learning.

The AHSS Faculty Research Support Scheme annually invites applications to support research activities in the form of conference presentations; fieldwork and the organisation of conferences/workshops/symposia. Our postgraduate students are entitled to apply for this funding, which is based on a competitive basis each year.

Fee waivers and scholarships

The Faculty annually offers a number of Fee Waivers and Scholarships to PhD candidates on a competitive basis.

AHSS Funded Research Projects 2023

Research students within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences can apply annually to the AHSS Postgraduate Research Committee for research funding to support their activities such as conference attendance and fieldwork. A selection of these activities can be found below.

Name	Department/School	Supervisor(s)	Funding
Ihlem Bellal	English, Irish and Communication	Dr. Yianna Liatsos/Dr. Sinead McDermott	I presented at the Scottish Association of the Study of America (SASA), the British Association of American Studies (BAAS), and the Irish Association of American Studies (IAAS). At each conference, I focussed on a specific aspect in relation to my whole research in order to get more feedback from the audience.
Haoua Lebbal	English, Irish and Communication	Dr. David Coughlan/Prof. Michael J. Griffin	The 7th International Conference on Hate Studies, “The Challenges of Hate in the 21st Century” was hosted by the University of Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington, USA and held at the Lair Student Center in Spokane Community College April 2023. I presented my research paper which was titled “The Limits of Using an Anti-Semitism Rhetoric against the Anti-Zionist Discourse: The Case of Jewish Voice for Peace”.
Islam Ben Adel	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Dr. Elaine Vaughan	I attended the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) at the University of Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium in July 2023 where I presented a poster that showcased the methodological I used to highlight the cross-cultural differences and similarities between the Irish English and Algerian Arabic groups.
Anthonia Bamidele	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Dr. Elaine Vaughan/Prof. Mairead Moriarty	I presented my paper titled “Social Inclusion through Language within a Multilingual Academic Setting” at the 18^th International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) Conference which was held at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium in July 2023. My research focused on the various multinationals in Bahrain who use English and other languages that are available to them in their conversations within the workplace context. I plan to publish the paper in a research journal.
Gail Flanagan	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Fiona Farr	I attended the annual Association for Business Communication (ABC) global conference which was held this year in October 2023 in Denver, Colorado, USA. I presented a full paper on my PhD research on spoken language in International Virtual Teams (IVTs) in the Irish technology sector.
Hadjer Hammadi	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Gisela Holfter/Dr. Angela Farrell	I presented at the Biennial Conference of the International Academy for Intercultural Research in Philadelphia, USA July 2023. My presentation was entitled "Investigating Intercultural Communication in the Algerian Energy Sector Workplace” As part of the conference, a two-day workshop was arranged for PhD students that included both lectures and group discussion sessions.
Najila Lilya Jaballah	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Helen Kelly-Holmes	I presented a paper at the International Conference on Future of Social Sciences and Humanities, was held in October 2023, in Rome, Italy. My presentation delved into the topic of satirical news shows during the age of COVID-19, with a specific focus on the case of "The Daily Show" in the USA and the "Joe Show" in Egypt.
Ninuk Krismanti	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Liam Murray/Dr. Brona Murphy	I presented at the AsiaTEFL International Conference ‘Visions and Aspirations’ held in Daejoon, South Korea, August, 2023, I presented online, my paper was entitled ‘Creating Translanguaging Spaces in EFL Classrooms: A Systemic Literature Review in the Southeast Asian Context’. Following the conference, I will publish the article in the conference proceedings.
Ikram Messauodi	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Dr. Nick WIlson	I presented a Paper “The Role of Supervisors’ Feedback in Improving Master's Students Thesis Writing in Algeria”, at British Association for Applied Linguistics, at University of York, England in August 2023.
Mark Ryan	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Mairead Moriarty/Prof. Helen Kelly Holmes	In my final year as a PhD student, I presented at the ‘Language, Gender, and Sexuality: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives’, Conference held at the University of Helsinki, Finland in October 2023. My research looks at the discourses and representations of gender- and sexual-minorities in the Irish context, and particularly in the linguistic and semiotic processes involved in this.
Sarah Smail	Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Mairead Moriarty	I presented at the 14th Linguistic Landscape workshop at the University of Madrid, Spain, 2023. My paper was titled ‘Language inequalities in the Algerian Public Space: A Semiotic Landscape Analysis’. Attending the event offered me fresh and innovative ideas to explore other linguistic landscape approaches.
Caroline Godard	Politics & Public Administration	Dr. Frank Haege	I attended a summer school offered by ECPR on Case Study Research: Method and Practice. The summer school took place online in August 2023 at the University of Passau, Germany. The course covered key elements of qualitative case studies and thematized case selection, process tracing, comparative case studies and evidence to inference.
Roumaissa Nora Sayoud	Politics & Public Administration/Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics	Prof. Owen Worth/Dr. Maria Rieder	I participated at the 13th international and interdisciplinary conference on Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice (ALAPP) in September, 2023, at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. My paper was entitled “Legitimating a Humanitarian Military Intervention: a Critical Discourse Analysis of the Political Discourse of David Cameron (the 2011 Libyan Arab Spring Rebellion as a Case Study)”.
Agata Lynch	Sociology	Prof. Amanda Haynes/Mary O’Donoghue/Dr. Ian Clancy	In my research, I assess the effectiveness of the school workshops delivered to students in secondary schools. To assist me with my findings, I was able to hire a professional transcriber for swift and accurate transcription of the data collected. This enabled me to analyse the data collected at each instance using NVivo before the next instance of data collection.

Find out what it's really like to be a postgraduate researcher in AHSS by reading our students' blogs and profiles.

List of current and recently graduated research students in AHSS

Further information

If you are interested in pursuing an MA or PhD by research or a Structured PhD, please visit the UL Graduate School website or contact:

AHSS Graduate Research Centre
51��ɫ
Email: ahssgradresearch@ul.ie