Introducing: Irial Glynn
In January 2014, Irial Glynn started a two-year Marie Curie Fellowship in Leiden. His project will compare the migration experiences of Ireland and Italy since 1945.
After completing my BA in archaeology and history at University College Dublin (UCD), I worked as an archaeologist on various sites in Ireland and France for a couple of years. I then returned to UCD to complete an MA in History, specialising on decolonisation in India. I began a doctoral programme at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence in 2005. My research concentrated on the treatment of asylum seekers in liberal democratic states, with a particular focus on what has occurred since the 1980s. During my studies, I was lucky enough to spend time as a visiting student at the Australian National University and as a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford.
Post-war migration histories
I obtained my PhD from the EUI at the end of 2009. Subsequently, I worked for the Irish Refugee Council before later returning to academia to pursue a visiting fellowship at New York University on a project about memory and migration. On my return home to Ireland, I taught history at University College Dublin before taking up a post-doctoral position at University College Cork for a project about Irish emigration. In January 2014, I started a two-year Marie Curie Fellowship here in Leiden. My project will compare the migration experiences of Ireland and Italy since 1945. Both countries’ post-war migration histories have until now been studied almost always in the singular rather than the plural. This comparative project will provide a timely indicator of how emigration, and more recently immigration, have shaped the two societies over the last seventy years.
I have enjoyed my time in Leiden so far and I look forward to working alongside you all over the next two years.