IRCHSS Press Release

26 June 2007: Scholars of the Humanities and Social Sciences awarded Eda Sagarra Medal

The Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) is to award four medals of excellence to scholars of the humanities and social sciences.

IRCHSS has commissioned the Eda Sagarra medals to recognise outstanding IRCHSS postgraduate scholars who have successfully completed their doctoral theses. In a ceremony to be held in Autumn 2007 in Dublin Castle, two medals will be presented in both the humanities and social sciences to our awardees.

The following are the award recipients:

Allen, Nicholas George TCD Humanities

Darcy, Shane NUIG Social Science

Jones, Heather Suzanne TCD Humanities

Murray, Michael NUIM Social Science

Since its inception in 1999, the IRCHSS has granted academic scholarships to postgraduate students to pursue research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. These awards are made on the basis of research excellence and are assessed by a panel of international experts. To date, the Council has made over 720 such awards. The Chief Officers of the relevant higher education institutes were invited to nominate scholars from their respective registrants for the accolade of the Eda Sagarra Medal. The selection of awardees was made by an Assessment Board chaired by the Chair of the IRCHSS and comprising four external assessors.

The medal is named in honour of Professor Eda Sagarra, to highlight her contribution to Irish Higher Education through her dynamic promotion of research excellence in the Humanities and Social Sciences and her own scholarly pursuits and research publications. Professor Sagarra was the first chairperson of the IRCHSS and served from 1999 to 2004, and was integral in the establishment of the council.

The Research Council funds six research programmes covering leading-edge research in the humanities, social sciences, business and law with the objective of enabling researchers in the Irish third-level system to create new knowledge and expertise beneficial to Ireland's economic, social and cultural development. Financed by the National Development Plan, the Research Council's programme is both top-down and bottom-up in focus and extends across post-graduate, post-doctoral and academics in universities and institutes of technology. Full details of the Research Council’s funding programme are available on www.irchss.ie
ENDS

For further information contact:

Ms Sorcha Carthy, IRCHSS Tel 01 660 3652