Dr Geraldine Brassil, Post Doctoral Researcher, Department of English Language and Literature
Dr Geraldine Brassil is a Post Doctoral Researcher in the Department of English Language and Literature at Mary Immaculate College.
What did you study as an undergraduate and postgraduate?
Having worked for many years in an unrelated career, I was made redundant in 2014. This was my opportunity to return to study as a mature student and to gain a degree. In 2015, I began a long-deferred journey back to education as an undergraduate BA student at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. I graduated with a first-class degree in English and History in 2019 and was awarded the college gold medal. I was keen to take my studies further, but I was interested in both English and History. I found a way of combining the two disciplines by focusing on nineteenth-century Irish women writers and their contributions to periodicals, magazines, and newspapers of the period. I applied for a departmental assistantship with the Department of English which enabled me to begin a Master’s degree by research before progressing to a PhD. In 2020 I was awarded a Government of Ireland Postgraduate scholarship, and I was also selected as the recipient of the Postgraduate Studentship at Mary Immaculate College. I successfully completed my viva voce examination in 2022. Most recently, I was awarded a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship 2024 supporting my continued research. As part of my postdoctoral plan, I have two articles in preparation, and I have completed a book proposal based on archival research for my PhD thesis. I was also awarded a CLS INFRA (Computational Literary Studies Infrastructure) Transnational Access Fellowship, in partnership with the Trier Center for Digital Humanities, Germany, to work on a collaborative digital project with Kathryn Laing (January 2025). Our blog ‘Rosa Mulholland, Digital Renaissance and Digital Humanities in Trier, Germany’ has recently been published on the Irish Women's Writing (1881-1920) Network website, as well as on MIC Insights.
Tell us a bit about your research
My research focuses on recovering and reconsidering nineteenth-century Irish women’s writing and thus their cultures. I examine the role played by nineteenth-century Irish periodicals and newspapers in the history of Irish women’s writing, showing the press of the time as a vibrant, enabling space for feminist networks and expression, for shaping public discourse and for women to develop modern female identities in areas such as literature, social reform, journalism and politics on both local and broader stages. Because the field of periodical studies is essentially archival in nature, much of my work involves exploring archives, both digital and traditional. To help me navigate, map, and visualise vast amounts of cultural metadata, I developed an excel dataset which records bibliographical information on Irish women writers. This dataset can be expanded or adapted to other projects depending on the direction of my research. My focus is on Irish writers such as Sarah Atkinson, Julia Kavanagh, Ellen Fitzsimon, Rosa Mulholland, Katharine Tynan, Mary Banim, and Jane Wilde. These women were significant nineteenth-century literary voices, yet many of them are now forgotten. I am particularly interested in what they were writing and how they integrated their own concerns in their work. A travel article, for example, could often transform into a forum for discussing social concerns. I am also very interested in the networks, connections, and collaborations that these women forged, often friendship-based, and how this enabled them to navigate a still male-dominated nineteenth-century publishing landscape. Recent articles include ‘Women’s Collaborative Literary Processes and Networks: Mary and Matilda Banims’ Ireland’, English Studies, published online: 20 November 2023 and ‘Feminist Networks Connecting Dublin and London: Sarah Atkinson, Bessie Rayner Parkes, and the Power of the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Press’, Victorian Periodicals Review (Spring 2022).
What do you enjoy most about undertaking your research projects?
As a late comer to academia, I think what I enjoy most is the friendships I have made along the way and the collegiality I have encountered as a student, teaching fellow and postdoctoral fellow. Undertaking research projects has also opened up new experiences and opportunities for me. I am an assistant researcher with the Irish Women’s Writing Network, as well as being involved in its Early Career Researcher Forum. I have taken part in workshops and seminars participating in the EFACIS PhD seminar in Irish Studies, Leuven, Belgium in August 2022, for example. I have also presented my research at international conferences such as the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS), 2024, ‘Embracing Change, Navigating Uncertainty: Ireland and New Beginnings’, at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) Annual Conference, 2023, ‘Currents in the Periodical Press’, Caen Normandy. Most recently, through my CLS INFRA Fellowship, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks at the Trier Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Trier, Germany working on a collaborative digital project with Dr Kathryn Laing. The fellowship offered us the ideal opportunity to acquire new knowledge, skills and fluency in the digital methods necessary for us to develop a plan and a methodology critical for the advancement of what we describe as our ‘Rosa Mulholland project’. Recovering nineteenth-century Irish women writers and exploring aspects of their lives, work and publishing practices is an exciting area of research, one I hope to continue to explore and to discover and promote lost Irish women writers’ voices.
Do you have any advice for someone considering taking up a postgraduate programme by research?
As a mature student, my advice to anyone considering postgraduate study is to carefully explore the options that are available and to look at the various supports and funding opportunities that can be accessed or applied for. In my case, I count myself fortunate to have had the support, advice and encouragement of my PhD supervisor and now Postdoctoral mentor, Dr Kathryn Laing and Professor Eugene O’ Brien and the English department staff at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Dr Richard Butler, Dr Julianne Stack and all at the RGSO have also been of immense help in making this educational journey possible for me.
