Queen's University Belfast

Robyn Atcheson

Biographical Details

I attended Regent House Grammar School, Newtownards from 2000 - 2007 before enrolling at Queen's University, Belfast. I completed my BA in Modern History in 2011 and my MA in Irish History in 2012 before beginning my PhD. My Masters dissertation looked at the formation of the first Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1840.

Research Topic and Interests

My thesis is entitled 'Poverty, poor relief and public health in Belfast and its region, c. 1800 - 1851' and is part of the AHRC-funded research project on 'Welfare and public health in Belfast and its region, c. 1800 - 1973'. My study will investigate the dynamics of poverty in the developing town of Belfast and its surroundings between the Act of Union and the Famine. It will consider various forms of poor relief through official systems and philanthropy as well as evaluating the medical relief available in this period. My research interests lie in the social and religious history of Ireland and Britain in the nineteenth century with a particular emphasis on early nineteenth-century Ulster.