Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Focus
Sinéad O’Sullivan is Professor of Early Medieval Intellectual History, Queen’s University Belfast. Her research has resulted in substantial monographs, co-edited books, and numerous solo-authored articles and scholarly book chapters. Her first book was an edition of and commentary on glosses on Prudentius’s Psychomachia, an allegorical work that had a profound influence through the Middle Ages into the early modern era. The second on the reception of Martianus’s textbook on the liberal arts illumines the central work underpinning medieval ideas of education and learning. Providing comprehensive first editions of early medieval glosses on foundational texts, both books establish the significance of glosses as evidence for early medieval intellectual activity. The larger issues arising from these studies pertaining to micro-texts and hypertexts reach right into the modern world. Collaborations on interdisciplinary projects have extended the scope of research into the areas of the classical commentary tradition, the materiality of the medieval book, practices of reading, the medieval conception of earth, and Carolingian liturgical culture. Her current book project probes annotations on Virgil and the Psalms for insight into the creation of an imperial imaginary across the medieval West, c. 750-900.
Achievements
Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London, she was Principal Investigator on an AHRC Leadership fellowship (2020-2021; https://craftingknowledge.wordpress.com/). Thanks to a Leverhulme International Fellowship (2017), she held visiting fellowships at the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Galway; Huygens ING, Amsterdam; Laboratoire d’histoire des théories linguistiques, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paris; and Greek and Latin Philology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich. She has also been the recipient of a Scaliger Fellowship at the Scaliger Institute, Leiden, and has reviewed funding applications for national and international funding bodies in Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and USA as well as for the European Research Council.
Previous awards include an AHRC Research Fellowship (2009-2010), National University of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (2003-2005), Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, Irish Research Council (2001-2002), Research Fellowship, University College Cork (2000-2001), Wingate Scholarship, Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, London (1998-1999), Rhodes Scholarship, Rhodes Trust, Oxford (1995-1998), Olwyn Rhys Scholarship, St. Anne’s College, Oxford (1995-1997), DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) awards (Munich 2002 and Heidelberg 1991), and a Research Fellowship, University of Konstanz (1992-1993).
Invited to sit on the advisory boards for the Leverhulme funded project Boethius in Early Medieval Europe (University of Oxford) and the Irish Research Council funded project Global and Local Scholarship on Annotated Manuscripts (University of Galway) as well as to contribute expert articles for international collaborative research projects in Stockholm, Helsinki, Zurich, Vienna and Princeton, Sinéad O’Sullivan has served as guest editor for a collaborative digital project at the Huygens Institute (Leiden), organised and co-organised international conferences (the Hague, Leiden and Belfast), and edited major research volumes. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Medieval Latin.
Teaching
Sinead O'Sullivan teaches on the following programmes / modules:
Undergraduate/Postgraduate
110HIS249 |
The Roman Origins of the East and West 300-700 |
HIS3079 |
Kings, Courts and Culture in Carolingian Europe, 800-1000 |
HIS2047 |
Expansion of Medieval Europe, 1000-1300 |
HIS3077 |
Dissertations |
MHY7089 |
Case Studies in History (MA in History) |
MHY7010 |
Dissertations (MA in History) |
Particulars
Relevant Websites
Full CV at https://sineadosullivansite.wordpress.com/
Current project: https://craftingknowledge.wordpress.com/
Colloquium: Crafting knowledge in the early medieval book: practices of collecting and concealing, Queen’s University, Belfast, 12-13 July 2021
Public Exhibition: ‘Ciphers, Codes and Notes: Crafting Knowledge in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.’ The McClay Library.
Online Exhibition: Ciphers, Codes, and Notes: Crafting Knowledge in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.
Public Engagement Event: Ciphers and Codes, Past, Present, Future, The Great Hall, Queen's University, Belfast (Schools of HAPP and EEECS & Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London)
Online Lecture: IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar: Reading the Psalms in the Carolingian Age.
Podcast: How and Why History: Who was Charlemagne https://tv.historyhit.com/?fbclid=IwAR244owq5LwBnOUweKqbAYbAEDTYx19SUq10hivHJhURN_Gn1xFxwhp7rOc
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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R2153HIS: Encoding knowledge in the textual culture of the early Middle Ages
O'Sullivan, S. (PI)
22/07/2016 → …
Project: Research
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R1949HIS: The oldest gloss tradition on Martianus
O'Sullivan, S. (PI)
01/08/2008 → 20/01/2010
Project: Research
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Book as Bibliotheca: the emergence of the commented edition
O'Sullivan, S., 01 Apr 2025, In: Speculum. 100, 2, p. 365–403 39 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
53 Downloads (Pure) -
Creating the past in the Carolingian Book of Virgil
O'Sullivan, S., 04 Mar 2025, The art of compilation: manuscripts and networks in the early medieval Latin West. Dorofeeva, A. & Kelly, M. J. (eds.). Punctum Books, p. 119-155 (Medieval Mediterranean Series).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Open AccessFile49 Downloads (Pure) -
Commentarius, catena, scholia
O'Sullivan, S., 28 Oct 2024, (Accepted) Philological practices: a comparative historical lexicon. Eusterschulte, A., Most, G. W. & Kern, M. (eds.). Princeton University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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Glossa
O'Sullivan, S., 28 Oct 2024, (Accepted) Philological practices: a comparative historical lexicon. Eusterschulte, A., Most, G. W. & Kern , M. (eds.). Princeton University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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The Oikoumenē and the Carolingian reception of Virgil
O'Sullivan, S., 21 Nov 2024, The elements in the medieval world: interdisciplinary perspectives: earth. Ramazzina, E., Magennis, H. & Cesario , M. (eds.). Brill, p. 121-151 31 p. (Elements, Nature, Environment: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from the Ancient to the Early Modern World; vol. 2).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Open AccessFile12 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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AHRC Leadership Fellowship Award
O'Sullivan, S. (Recipient), 01 Jan 2020
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Associate Editor of The Journal of Medieval Latin (Toronto and Turnhout)
O'Sullivan, S. (Recipient), 2023
Prize: Appointment
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British Academy Exchange Scheme
O'Sullivan, S. (Recipient), 2005
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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DAAD Research Award, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich
O'Sullivan, S. (Recipient), 2002
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Activities
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Celestial Connections Across Time and Space, The 13th International Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena (Belfast 2025)
O'Sullivan, S. (Invited speaker)
08 Jun 2025 → 13 Jun 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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PhD Internal Examiner
O'Sullivan, S. (Examiner)
25 Oct 2024Activity: Examination types › Other examination
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Inaugural Lecture
O'Sullivan, S. (Lecturer)
04 Oct 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Design of an Exit of Probation Survey for HAPP colleagues with Action Plan
O'Sullivan, S. (Organiser)
Sept 2024 → Nov 2024Activity: Other activity types › Other
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Invited Talk at an International Workshop, University of Oslo, 2024.
O'Sullivan, S. (Keynote/plenary speaker)
22 May 2024 → 23 May 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Press/Media
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Interviewed by Rob Weinberg on “How Charlemagne united much of Europe” for 'How and Why History'
06/03/2020
1 item of Media coverage, 1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Review of Carolingian Scholarship Book for Parergon: Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/536723/pdf
30/11/2013
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Review of Carolingian Scholarship Book in The Medieval Review: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/17720
15/10/2013
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Review of Martianus Book for The Journal of Medieval Latin. https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JML.5.100870
15/10/2012
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Review of Martianus book for The Medieval Review. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/18746
03/10/2011
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research