I am a historian of science and technology. My research focuses on the interaction between science, technology and society in the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries with a particular focus on Ireland. I also have a strong interest in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), particularl the role of digital technologies in teaching, learning and assessment.
Abbreviated CV
Education
October 2021: Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education Teaching, Learning and Assessment (Maynooth University).
September 2017: Ph.D. in History (Maynooth University).
Thesis title: ‘Telecommunications in the nineteenth century, with particular reference to Ireland.’
January 2015: Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning (Maynooth University).
September 2012: BA Hons (joint honours in History and Music), first class honours (Maynooth University).
Conference presentations
Invited presentations
Keynote: Royal Dublin Society and the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM) Network Ireland, History of Science conference, 13-14 October 2017, presentation: The RDS Radium Institute and the practical application of science: physical and medical research in early twentieth-century Ireland.
Presentation: Engineers Ireland, 22 Clyde Road, Dublin 4, 18 September 2017 presentation: The early development of the electric telegraph in Ireland: technological implementation and expansion on the periphery of the union, 1830-1868.
Department of History, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Weekly Research Seminar, April 2014, presentation: The early development and application of the electro-magnetic telegraph in Britain and Ireland, 1800-68.
Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester, Lunchtime seminar series, 25 Feb. 2014, presentation: Implementing optical telegraphy: a case study of R.L. Edgeworth’s Telegraphic Establishment, 1797-1805.
Conference presentations
History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM) Network Ireland, annual conference, Dublin City university, 21 April 2023, presentation: ‘By Electric Telegraph’: telegraphic news in Ireland, c. 1850-1880.
HSTM Network Ireland, annual conference, University of Ulster, Belfast, 18-19 October 2019, presentation: The telephone in Ireland, 1878-1893.
IET History of Technology Conference, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Saturday 2 September 2019, presentation: Developing telephony at the edge of the United Kingdom: the telephone in Ireland, 1878-1893.
HSTM Network Ireland conference, DCU, 11-12 November 2016, presentation: The role of telegraphy in the governance and administration of Ireland, c. 1850-1890.
Shared Histories: Media Connections Between Britain and Ireland, 6-7 July 2016, National Library of Ireland, presentation: ‘By Electric Telegraph’: the rise and fall of the private telegraph companies ‘news intelligence’ service in Ireland and Britain, c. 1850-1870.
HSTM Network Ireland conference, Maynooth University, 13-14 November 2015, presentation: The fashioning of technology and self: a case study of optical telegraphy in Ireland, c. 1797-1804.
The British Society for the History of Science, annual conference, Swansea University, 3 July 2015, presentation: The nationalised telegraph service in Ireland, 1870-1912.
Science in the City, Edward Worth Library, Dublin, 3 October 2014, presentation: Telegraphy in the nineteenth-century city.
The International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC), University of Transylvania, Brasov, Romania, 29 July-2 August 2014, presentation: The emergence of optical telegraphy during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: a case study of Ireland, 1797-1805.
The British Society for the History of Science, annual conference, University of St Andrew’s, 3-6 July 2014, presentation: Technological convergence and transatlantic communication: a case study of Ireland, 1850-66.
Post-graduate conference presentations
The British Society for the History of Science, post-graduate conference, University College London, 7-9 January 2015, presentation: The telegraph nationalisation debate and its impact on the United Kingdom’s nationalised telegraphs.
The British Society for the History of Science, post-graduate conference, University of Leeds, 8-10 January 2014, presentation: Ireland’s early telegraph network: technological implementation on the periphery of the Union, 1850-1865.
Irish History Students’ Association conference, Queens University, Belfast, 2013, presentation: The Telegraphic Establishment: Richard Lovell Edgeworth and the Dublin to Galway optical telegraph line of 1803-4.
Education presentations
Irish Learning Technology Association, 13 January 2022, presentation: Maynooth online: reflecting on and learning from emergency online teaching and learning.
Education, Technology & Culture in Crisis: secondary and higher education in a time of virtual instruction, Global Institute for Research, Education & Scholarship, 15–16 May 2021, presentation: Towards a holistic approach to student engagement reflections on digital teaching and learning.
Academia and Wikipedia: Critical Perspectives in Education and Research, Maynooth University, 18 June 2018, roundtable member: From Poetry to Palmerstown: Editing Wikipedia with 452 Students.
Conference/seminar organisation
History
Convenor: HSTM Network Ireland, Monthly Seminar Series (October 2022-present).
Local organising committee member: British Society for the History of Science annual conference, 20-23 July 2022, Queens University, Belfast.
Organiser: History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM) Network Ireland, inaugural conference, 13-14 Nov. 2015, Maynooth University.
Education
Co-ordinator: Maynooth University Teaching and Learning Reading Group, October 2021-present (https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/dean-teaching-learning/maynooth-university-teaching-and-learning-reading-group)
Organiser: Advancing digital pedagogy at Maynooth: Reflecting on the year online. Workshop as part of National Forum for the advancement of teaching and learning in Higher Education, VIT&L Week, 10 Nov. 2021, Maynooth University.
Work Experience
Critical Skills, Maynooth University
Oct. 2017–present, Critical Skills Tutor. Critical Skills is a first-year university course that develops student’s research, writing, presentation, team working and critical-thinking skills.
Centre for Teaching and Learning, Maynooth University
Oct.–Dec. 2016, Student Plus Tutor. Student Plus is an introductory module for first-year undergraduates in learning, research, writing, presentation and critical thinking skills.
Department of History, Maynooth University (post-graduate teaching)
Oct.–Dec. 2018, Tutor, HY608, HY678 MA thesis preparation.
Feb.–May 2018, Tutor, HY609, HY 679, MA thesis completion.
Feb.–May 2017, Tutor, HY609, HY 679, MA thesis completion.
Role: tutor for MA in Irish History and MA in Military History and Strategic Studies in various aspects of designing, researching and writing of MA thesis. I was responsible for designing and teaching of these modules which focused on process writing to aid in thesis development and completion.
Department of History, Maynooth University (undergraduate teaching)
Lecturing
July–Aug. 2018, Lecturer, HY273SS, The Great Irish Famine. International summer school module covering the causes, course and consequences of the Great Irish Famine. Duties included course design, teaching, and setting and marking of assignments (reviews, presentations, and essay).
Sept.–Dec. 2017, Lecturer, HY 104, Ireland since 1800. Introductory survey module covering nineteenth and twentieth-century Irish history. Duties included course design, teaching, and setting and marking of essays and exam.
Jan.–May 2017, Lecturer, HY 257, Twentieth-century Ireland: political. Module focuses on the State’s role in the development of various technological systems over the course of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. Duties included course design, teaching, and setting and marking of essays and exam.
Tutoring
Sept. 2012–May. 2018, Tutor. Role: I have worked as a tutor to first, second and third-year undergraduate students, teaching modules in Irish, European and world history ranging from the early-modern period to the twentieth century. Duties included tutoring, marking of presentations and assignments.
Professional activities and memberships
History
Member of the Irish Committee of Historical Sciences (ICHS), Nov. 2015–present.
Webmaster and Social Media Officer, ICHS, March 2017–present.
Committee member, HSTM Network Ireland, Feb. 2014 (foundation)–present.
Chair, History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM) Network Ireland, 26 Oct. 2018–Sept. 2022
Secretary, HSTM Network Ireland, Secretary, Jan. 2016–Oct. 2018.
Member of the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS), February 2014–present.
BSHS, postgraduate ambassador, Oct. 2014–Jan. 2017.
Education
Member of the All Ireland Society for Higher Education (AISHE), May 2021–present.
Member of the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA), May 2021–present.
Awards
Maynooth University Teaching Award (Team category), 2019.
Royal Dublin Society (RDS), Library and Archives Research Bursary, 2017 (amount: €10,000).
Government of Ireland, Irish Research Council, Post-Graduate Scholarship, Oct. 2013- Sept. 2016 (amount: €71,399).
John and Pat Hume scholarship (NUI, Maynooth), Oct. 2012-Sept. 2013 (amount: €8,000).
NUI Maynooth, Department of History award for first place in BA history, 2012.
Funding
National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, VIT&L Week 2021, event funding (€2,200).
Government of Ireland, Irish Research Council, New Foundations Funding, Feb.-Nov. 2015 (amount: €6,000).