School of Modern Languages

News and Events

Congratulations to Dr Melanie Henry on the publication of her book, The Signifying Self: Cervantine Drama as Counter-Perspective Aesthetic, with the MHRA Texts and Dissertations Series.

The series exists to promote important work by younger scholars by making the most accomplished doctoral research available to the widest possible readership through a policy of affordable pricing and not requiring a publication subvention.

You can buy copies of the book via the MHRA website - http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/henry.html

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Details of funding available for taught and research courses can be found by clicking here.

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School Seminar Series

Please click here to view our programme of seminars for semester 2.

Everyone is most welcome to attend.

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(Re)Imagining Irish Folklore: This conference aims at exploring the rich traditions of Irish folklore, and looking at the various ways it is being, has been or indeed was, re-purposed and reinvented. We hope to bring together researchers at various stages of their careers, both professional and postgraduate, working on any and every aspect of the folklore of Ireland, its reappropriation and dissemination up to the present day or indeed the reuse of traditions. We welcome proposals from researchers in the fields of Agriculture, Anthropology, Archaeology, Architecture, Dance, Drama, Ecology, Film Studies, Folklore, Geography, History, History of Art, Languages, Literature, Media Studies, Music, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology and Theology, Tourism Studies.   For full details please click here.

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This international conference devoted to the Ulster Cycle of tales will be held at Queen’s University, Belfast, from 27 – 30 June 2013.  The conference will be hosted by Irish & Celtic Studies (in the School of Modern Languages) at Queen’s.  In addition to the academic programme, a number of social events are planned, including a tour of some ancient and historic sites in Ulster on Sunday, 30 June 2013.  For full details click here.

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Congratulations to our colleague, Dr Mícheál Ó Mainnín, who had a successful launch of the new Placenames website at Stormont on 21 January 2013.  People are invited to explore the origins and history of their local place-names through www.placenamesni.org. 

For more information please click here.   

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Last week, Dr Gabriel Sánchez Espinosa visited some of our students spending their year abroad in Spain to find out how they were adapting to the Spanish way of life. 

One of the students placed in Andalucía told him that: ‘The six weeks that have elapsed since my arrival in Spain have been the busiest and most rewarding of my life. I cannot recall another time when I have learned and experienced so much within so short a space of time.’ 

A student living in the Basque country described their idyllic life saying: ‘I have had no problems settling in here in Irún and everyday just gets better. The culture is very different but in a good way. I love the buzz of the ‘Plazas’ on a fine evening and it is so family orientated.  I find great pleasure sitting in the square reading, ‘in Spanish of course’, with a little glass of ‘vino’. I have just finished reading La Casa de los Espíritus by Isabel Allende.  I feel that this opportunity has given me the confidence to step outside my comfort zone.’ Needless to say, we are all very jealous of the ‘vino’ in the buzzing ‘plazas’ back in rainy Belfast! 

And finally, when Gabriel asked the students to give some advice to second year students who are just beginning to think about placements abroad for next year, a student currently living in Madrid said: ‘Overall, I feel I am settling in to life in Spain better than I initially thought I would. Although I was extremely nervous leaving home, I tried not to have too many expectations about my year abroad, preferring to let things fall in to place when I arrived. Everything from finding accommodation to integrating in to Spanish society has all came to together perfectly and as my first month in Spain finishes I am left hoping that the next seven don’t go as fast!’

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Many congratulations to Christina McCloskey, a second-year French and Spanish student whose essay for her Spanish module, World as Stage, was highly commended by the judges in the Languages & Linguistics category of the 2012 Undergraduate Awards. This is an excellent achievement, and means that Christina’s essay was ranked in the top 10% of the almost 3000 essays that were submitted for the Undergraduate Awards this year from 100 universities around the world. Professor Isabel Torres, Christina’s tutor and Head of Spanish at Queen’s commented: ‘I am absolutely delighted that Christina's essay has been recognised by the Undergraduate Awards. To be included among the top 10% of undergraduate work in the discipline is a wonderful achievement and richly deserved. This is an impressive performance for an individual student at level 2. It also reflects upon the whole class, whose dynamism and willingness to participate fully in all the activities of the module facilitated a range of outstanding work. My warmest congratulations to Christina and my thanks to everyone on the module - a pleasure to teach!’

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Dr Piotr Blumczyński has been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) grant to launch an international research network exploring “English Evaluative Concepts in Translated Religious and Devotional Texts.”

The project combines a keen local focus with a broad transcultural research perspective provided by a group of collaborative partners working, across a range of disciplines, in markedly different regions of Europe: Northern Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Spain.

Through a series of thematic conferences, community events and workshops held at diverse locations in 2013–2014, the network will seek to (1) develop our understanding of the interactions between linguistic, cultural and religious communities by exploring shared and conflicting systems of values; and (2) contribute to raising awareness of the nature of translation and interpreting as a process of conceptual and cultural – rather than merely linguistic – mediation.

The total value of the reward amounts to £44,376. Piotr is the Principal Investigator in the research project.

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Dr Fiona Clark has been awarded two grants for a 14 month period to complete a project into medical history linking Ireland, France, Spain, and Mexico in the eighteenth century, entitled: 'Scratching below the Surface: Empire, Authority, and Venereal Disease (Mexico City, 1789-1798)'. This funding comprised Wellcome Trust for the History of Medicine (£27, 974) for the period September 2011-January 2012, and an Arts and Humanities Research Council Early Career Fellowship (£63,535) for the period February - October 2012.

This project has grown out of the discovery of reports and correspondence written by an Irish surgeon, Daniel O'Sullivan relating to a series of trials into the effect of a non-mercurial treatment for venereal disease held in Mexico City in the early 1790s. The materials clearly indicate a level of tension, manipulation, and suspicion in relationships among the medical and ecclesiastical authorities that has, to date, remained unexplored. As such, O'Sullivan's work throws potential new light on the internal governance of local Mexican hospitals and raises questions relating to the exercise of medical authority on a transatlantic level, the means by which individuals progressed in their medical careers, and the use of patronage within the eighteenth-century Spanish court.

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The regional TV station of Castilla-Leon in Spain recently produced a programme about people from the region living in Belfast.

Spanish PhD student, Leticia Villamediana, who works on Eighteenth Century Periodical Press, features in the progamme.

The programme can be viewed on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEkCBNpIjwQ

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The Minister for Europe, the Rt Hon David Lidington MP, has visited Queen's to encourage students to consider a career in the European Union Civil Service.

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On the 25th April 2012, postgraduate students from Queen's University Belfast and University College Dublin gathered together to share and discuss a wide range of research projects relating to a variety of issues across Latin America. Under the umbrella of the Latin American Studies Forum theme for 2011-2012, the presentations focused on the analysis of the idea of 'community' in its various forms and the connected issue of representation of memory, including the impact of these themes within the contexts of identity, migration, dictatorship, and conflict resolution. This student-led initiative was organised by two Queen's doctoral students, Sandra Collins (Spanish and Portuguese Studies) and Renato Castro (Ethnomusicology), and featured a keynote address by world-leading ethnomusicologist Dr Samuel Araújo (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) entitled: "Amidst walls, wired fences and armoured cars; connecting sonic memories and heritage in post-industrial society". This highly successful day underlined the ongoing importance of humanities research in enhancing our understanding of the complexity of 21st century global relations, as well as challenging students to become aware of how their research can directly impact and benefit the local society within which they work.

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18 Queen’s students, including 11 studying Languages, took part in the first ever Brussels Study Tour organised by the Careers Service in the final week of the Easter Vacation. The aim of the tour was to introduce Queen’s students to the EU institutions and to promote the aspiration of living and working at the heart of Europe. The group was hosted at the Irish College in Leuven, and was accompanied by Ms Roisin Copeland, Senior Careers Advisor, and Dr Nigel Harkness, Director of Education in the School of Modern Languages.

The group visited the EU Parliament and Commission, had meetings with a range of people working in the EU institutions as translators, policy advisors, journalists, and diplomats, and gained insights into the wide range of career opportunities there are for linguists in Brussels and the application process. Among the social highlights of the tour were dinner with the Irish Ambassador to Belgium, and an alumni reception hosted by the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels. As one of our students commented, ‘Meeting the QUB alumni really showed us that there is a place for Queen’s graduates in Brussels and that working in the EU is a really attainable goal’.

Dr Nigel Harkness welcomed this important initiative: ‘Not only did the study tour make our students aware of the career opportunities that are available to Languages graduates in the European Union, but it also reinforced what we have been saying to them since day 1 of their degree: that learning a language really does give them a head start when it comes to careers. Everyone they met in Brussels stressed that speaking English simply is not enough. To work in the EU institutions you need to be able to speak English and French as basic working languages, and then at least one of the other 24 official languages, which include Spanish, Portuguese and Irish.’

  

 

 Pictured at the Alumni reception are Russell Donaldson (Law with French), Dr Gerry Mulligan, Director of the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels, and Dr Nigel Harkness, Director of Education in the School of Modern Languages

 

 

 

   

 

Dr Gerry Mulligan welcomes students and alumni to the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels. Also pictured is Ms Roisin Copeland, Senior Careers Advisor and Tour Leader.

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