Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
My research focusses mainly on the neglected area of class in Irish Studies, particularly in terms of literature. It has been presented over the past decade on TV, in print and at a wide range of public engagement and academic conference activities. With the support of the AHRC and other funders, this research has also moved into new multi-disciplinary themes and international contexts, including the study of festivals/marginalisation and participatory and co-produced theatre. My first monograph, Writing Ireland’s Working Class (2011), emerged from my PhD thesis at Trinity College Dublin, and focussed on the writing of working-class life in Dublin after Seán O'Casey. My edited collection, A History of Irish Working-Class Writing (2017), expanded on that research, and was named by Prof John Kerrigan in his 'Books of the Year 2017' (Times Literary Supplement). I am also co-editor, with Malik, Mahn, and Rogaly, of Creative Interruptions: Creativity and Resistance in a Hostile World (MUP, 2020), with Mac Ionnrachtaigh, of Féile Voices at 30: Memoirs of the West Belfast Community Festival (Orpen: 2018), and with Trew, of Rethinking the Irish Diaspora: After the Gathering (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). These books have expanded my research, on diaspora writers, festivalisation and emancipatory practices in the arts, and have been accompanied by a range of related publications in other journals and books, as well as by two exhibitions I curated and contribution to televised documentaries. I have published articles and book chapters on class/race in recent Irish drama, and on writers such as Patrick MacGill, Seán O'Casey, Brendan Behan, Dermot Bolger, Roddy Doyle and others. I am Assistant Editor of the Journal of Class and Culture.
My research has also brought me to an interest in digital humanities methodologies, particularly where they help develop archives for working-class activists and artists: see my collaboration with Prof Margaret Topping and Dr Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh on a crowd-sourced festival history project, which has produced two books, an exhibition and a Dearcán Media/BBC documentary. I am also open to collaborative community theatre projects: see my work with playwright Martin Lynch, Green Shoot Productions, Fionntán Hargey of the Markets Area Development Association, former civil rights activists and a range of LGBTQ+, women's reproductive rights, housing rights and refugee rights organisations: https://creativeinterruptions.com/portfolio_category/creative-connections-and-civil-rights/. The resultant play--a collaboration between theatre professionals and this range of activist groups--focussed on 'Civil Rights: Then and Now' and premiered at the Lyric Theatre in March 2018. The project also produced a Linen Hall Library exhibition, which moved to other libraries and featured at the British Film Institute in 2019, as well as in a range of schools/community outreach initiatives. This project was part of the AHRC-funded Creative Interruptions initiative (http://creativeinterruptions.com/), which explores creativity in contexts of conflict and disenfranchisement in Britain, Ireland, India, Pakistan and Palestine. I am also part a team, led by Prof Sean O'Connell at QUB, which has recently applied for funding for work on local LGBTQ history.
I teach on ENG1002: Contemporary Fiction, and convene ENG2081: Irish Literature, ENG3064: British and Irish Working-Class Writing, and ENG7037: A Space for Radical Openness? Writing the Margins in Twentieth-Century British and Ireland.
I also teach/have taught on Architecture, Liberal Arts and other English Literature modules, and currently supervise five PhD students, looking at topics ranging from gender/class in northern literature; philosophy and Flann O'Brien; working-class poetry; contemporary Irish fiction; marginal Irish modernisms. I have examined PhDs on Irish diaspora writing; Irish working-class writing; LGBTQ writing; and a range of Irish writers, in Edinburgh, Southhampton, UCD and Liverpool.
Within the school of Arts, English and Languages at QUB, my administrative work includes the Lead Tutor role (overseeing all personal tutoring, facilitating peer mentoring, acting as student representative co-ordinator for the School, and engaging with various committees from Student Staff Support Groups to the AHSS Student & Staff Partnership Group). I am also UCU Rep for AEL, and formerly an elected officer of the Union. I am interesting in promoting Irish-language speaking on campus and have been active in the recent, successful Dearcán campaign for an Irish-language residential scheme. Pre-Covid, I ran a monthly Ciorcal Comhrá event at QUB, which I look forward to seeing taking off again.
Achievements
- Winner, Vice Chanellor's Prize for Postdoctoral Research, 20 Nov 2015
- PI (3), Co-I (7) or External Collaborator (1) on 11 successful research grants in last six years
Teaching
As Student Engagement Officer in the School of Arts, English and Languages, I co-ordinate personal tutoring and peer mentoring across the School. Before joining Queen's, I taught for almost a decade in further education and adult education in Dublin, and I am a former member of the Teaching Council of Ireland and a current Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. I also formerly edited two regional newspapers in Ireland: the Cavan Echo and Monoghan Echo. See my current PhD supervisions above. Modules I teach or have taught on:
ARC3024 - History and Theory of Architecture
ENG1002 - Contemporary Fiction
ENG1006 - Sounds of the City: Belfast and Beyond
ENG2000 - Introduction to Critical and Cultural Theory
ENG2081 - Irish Literature (convener)
ENG3000 - Double Dissertation
ENG3064 - Representing the Working Class (convener)
ENG7163 (MA) - Literary Research Methods
ENG7370 (MA) - Writing the Margins (convener)
LIB2001 - Uses of the Past
I have also participated in teaching activities for the QUB Institute of Irish Studies Summer School.
I am External Examiner to the School of English at University College Cork and the School of Languages at Tecnological University Dublin.
Particulars
Professional affiliations
Member of the Irish Labour History Society, the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature.
Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.
Member of the Steering Group of the James Connolly Visitor Centre.
Awards/Reviewing/Other Activities
- Winner, Vice Chanellor's Prize for Postdoctoral Research, 20 Nov 2015
- Assistant Editor, Journal of Class and Culture
- Member of AHRC Peer Review College
- Referee for Irish Studies Review, Irish University Review, Irish Journal of Arts Management and Cultural Policy, Irish Labour History Society, Neohelicon, Peter Lang, Postcolonial Text, Irish University Review, Cork University Press, Mosaic, AHRC, MRC/UKRI
- Invited an keynote speaker at various events locally and internationally
- Former Northern Bridge AHRC referee
- Former Network Member, 'Marginal Irish Modernsims'
Other
Personal interests
I am a former Committee Member and elected officer of the University College Union at Queen's and currently representative for AEL. I also coach Gaeilic football to children at Pádraig Sáirséil CLG (Sarsfield's). Before taking up my current role at Queen’s, I participated in voluntary community work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ireland, as a youth mentor with at-risk teenagers. I have also run marathons and races for a number of charities and community groups and (pre-Covid) ran the Ciorcal Comhrá (Irish-language speakers' circle) monthly at Queen's.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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R2195HIS: "'Neither King nor Kaiser': Empire, War and Rebellion in Ireland 1912 - 1919"
Kelly, B., Murphy, P. & Pierse, M.
27/01/2015 → …
Project: Research
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R3600ENG: After ‘The Gathering’: mapping future trajectories, engaging the diaspora
07/02/2014 → …
Project: Research
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R1794AEL: The Féile Journey at 30: Translating Culture through Community Festivals
Mac Ionnrachtaigh, F., Pierse, M. & Topping, M.
05/09/2017 → 30/11/2018
Project: Research
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R1653AEL: AHRC Creative Interruptions : grassroots creativity, State structures and disconnection as a space for "radical Openness"
02/03/2017 → 31/03/2020
Project: Research
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R1477ENG: Creative Interruptions: grassroots culture, state structures and disconnection as a space for 'radical openness'
17/11/2014 → 31/03/2015
Project: Research
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Class Warfare in Twentieth-Century Cork: Review of 'Working in Cork' by Liam Cullinan
Pierse, M., 01 Mar 2022, In: Irish Literary Supplement. 41, 2, p. 16-17 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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Concluding chapter: Tackling ‘the taboo’: the personal is political (and it’s scholarly too)
Pierse, M., 14 Nov 2022, The lives of working-class academics: getting ideas above your station. Burnell Reilly, I. (ed.). 2022 ed. Emerald Publishing, p. 201-215Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Disenchantment, radicalisation and retrospection: writing rural workers of the Revolutionary Period
Pierse, M., 30 May 2022, Bread not profits: provincial working class politics during the Irish Revolution. Devine, F. & Mac Bhloscaidh, F. (eds.). Dublin: Umiskin Press, p. 233-253Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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The Hostage (1958) by Brendan Behan
Pierse, M., 25 Aug 2022, Fifty key Irish plays. Richards, S. (ed.). Routledge, p. 81-84Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Elizabeth Grubgeld, Disability and Life Writing in Post-Independence Ireland
Pierse, M., Nov 2021, In: Irish University Review. 51, 2, p. 376-382 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Prizes
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QUB Impact Development Fund grant
Pierse, Michael (Recipient), 24 May 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Vice Chanellor's Prize for Postdoctoral Research
Pierse, Michael (Recipient), 20 Nov 2015
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Connecting People to Place
Michael Pierse (Advisor)
05 Dec 2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Training on Autism Awareness
Michael Pierse (Recipient)
12 Aug 2022Activity: Other activity types › Other
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'Pléann Bread nor Profits'
Michael Pierse (Advisor)
10 Aug 2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices
Michael Pierse (Advisor)
15 Jun 2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Rebecca Grounds
Michael Pierse (Host)
30 May 2022Activity: Hosting a visitor types › Hosting of external, non-academic visitor
Press / Media
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Log-jam in Northern Ireland as unionists block new government
13/05/2022
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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'Exhibition aiming to make area's history "vibrant and accessible"'
07/12/2021
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Máthair, Season 1, Episode 3: "Kathleen Behan"
01/04/2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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The History of Féile an Phobail - WOW Festival 2018
24/10/2018
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
Impact
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Community Relations Council Focus Group on WWI
Michael Pierse (Participant)
Impact: Cultural Impact, Societial Impact
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Impact Case Study: : Creative Connections and Civil Rights: Co-Producing Memories and Connecting the Disconnected through Theatre
Michael Pierse (Participant)
Impact: Cultural Impact