Fiona Clark

Fiona is currently working on the intersection between textiles and literature, focusing on the medium of Chilean arpilleras as a means of creative reading. In her classes, she also explores the material culture of Cuban Handmade books, building upon the collection held by the McClay Library and teaches on Latin American 18th-century art.

Fiona completed her PhD in Hispanic Studies at Queen’s University Belfast in 2003, focusing on the Gazeta de Literatura de México (1788-1795) and the developing role of periodical literature and science in eighteenth-century Mexico.  

In 2005 she became postdoctoral fellow in the History Department of St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Dublin, funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. This fellowship enabled her to undertake a new project investigating the role of an eighteenth-century Irish military physician in colonial Mexico. This research was then further funded to continue at QUB by the AHRC and the Wellcome Trust.

Fiona is currently the Recruitment lead for Modern Languages in the School of Arts, English and Languages. She served as the Director of Education for the School of Modern Languages in 2015-16. She has also been Director of the Latin American Studies Forum 2010-2016 andwas actively involved with the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies (CECS) at Queen’s University. In 2015-16 she will co-direct an interdisciplinary research group on 'Framing Epidemics' with Dr Ida Milne (School of History and Anthropology) funded by the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities. She has been Assistant Editor for the Bulletin of Spanish Studies and from 2007 -2009, held responsibility for the 'Spanish American Literature: Colonial Period (1492-1800) in The Years Work in Modern Language Studies. 

Fiona is currently coordinator of Spanish language teaching for Post-'A' level. She also offers undergraduate and postgraduate modules on early and modern Latin American literature, culture, and history of medicine. She has previously worked in the area of TEFL in a number of Spanish speaking countries as well as in Queen's.

Current postgraduate supervision - textiles and creative readings, material culture and reading practices.

Past postgraduate supervision: 18th century Ireland-Latin America networks in medicine; eco-criticism and modern 20th and 21st century Latin American literature; Colombia and Northern Ireland - grass roots women's organisations and peacebuilding.

UG and PG Modules:

• Level 1 (Post 'A' Level) Spanish language
• Level 1 - Introduction to Latin American Studies
• Level 2 - Encuentros Maravillosos: tales of survival
• Level 2 - Protecting Paradise (arts and ecological issues)
• Level 3 - Disease and Society
• Level 3 - Wrapping Words cursillo: Cuban handmade books

2023: Shortlisted for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Innovation and Leadership Link

2021: Winner of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Digital Learning Award for Student Engagement. 

2013: The Wellcome Trust Small Grant for colloquium: 
'The paths of medical un/orthodoxy? Colonial Latin America and its World'

2013: The Society for the Social History of Medicine conference funding for:
'The paths of medical un/orthodoxy? Colonial Latin America and its World'

2011-2012: The Wellcome Trust Research Leave Fellowship.

2011-2012: AHRC Early Career Research Fellowship.

2008: The Wellcome Trust Symposium Funding for:  Ireland and Medicine in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries

2008: The Royal Historical Society workshop grant for: Ireland and Medicine in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries

2005-2007: Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship.

2006: Society for Irish Latin American Studies, Irish Latin American Research
      Fund.

2006: Fellowship for the 10th International Summer School in History of Science,
      Uppsala, Sweden,  

2005: British Academy Overseas Conference Grant.

2003: ISECS Bursary Fellowship for the International Seminar on the Eighteenth Century and the International Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies Quadrennial Congress 2003, UCLA Centre for 17^th- and 18^th-Century Studies.

2003: Margaret McGuire Cutshall Graduate Research Travel Grant, Bakken Library and Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota.