Academic Career

Government of Ireland CARA Postdoctoral Mobility Fellow in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History, National University of Ireland (Maynooth) and Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto Project: ‘Scientific and cultural researches in the sub-Arctic: a comparative study of exploratory travels in Scandinavia and Canada, 1800–1830’

PhD (History), NUI Maynooth, 2009: 'The Irish in Russia, 1690-1815: travel, gender, and self-fashioning'

B.A. (Hons) N.U.I. Maynooth, 2003

Awards:

Overseas Visiting Scholar, St John’s College, University of Cambridge, Oct.–Dec. 2010 (non-stipendiary)

National University of Ireland Travelling Studentship (2006–9); Departmental bursary from the Department of History, N.U.I. Maynooth (2003–4).
 

Research Interests

Primary research interests: My research to date has focused mostly on the Romantic period, with specific concerns relating to travel writing (particularly on Northern regions and Russia), European elite cultural practices relating to ways of knowing - travel, education, antiquarianism - and cultures of leisure and fashion. I am also interested in the history of astronomy and cartography.
 

My post-doctoral research project, 'Scientific and cultural researches in the sub-Arctic: a comparative study of exploratory travels in Scandinavia and Canada, 1800-1830', examines the sub-Arctic travel accounts of a number of British 'gentlemen of science' and antiquarians. Research for the project, to be conducted in Britain, Canada and Ireland, is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and has the mentorship support of Suzanne Zeller, History, Wilfrid Laurier University and Jacinta Prunty, History, National University of Ireland (Maynooth).
 

Languages: Irish, Russian, French.

Publications

Accepted for publication:

• ‘Irish soldiers in Russia, 1690–1812: a reassessment’ in The Irish Sword (forthcoming, 2011)

• ‘Supplementing the autobiography of Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova: the Russian diaries of Martha and Katherine Wilmot’ in Irish Slavonic Studies (in preparation)

• ‘Entertainment, memorials and societies: the Irish Historic Towns Atlas as a source for comparative research’ in H.B. Clarke & Sarah Gearty (eds), Maps and texts: exploring the Irish Historic Towns Atlas (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, in preparation)

• [Peer-reviewed] “No longer to be gazed at as a distant glimmering star’: Irish-born British diplomats’ accounts of Russia, 1733–1767’ in Lumières internationales series, eds Vanessa Alayric & Ellen R. Welch (Paris: Honoré Champion, in preparation)
• ‘‘Beginning my education …’: European travel and the women and children of the Irish elite, c. 1800–1830’ in Robin Jarvis & Melanie Ord (eds), Reading, writing and travelling, 1600–1830 (in preparation)

''Why wouldn't they content themselves to dress like Christians?': fashion and self-fashioning in late eighteenth-century Russia', in Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia Newsletter, 37 (2009), pp 14-18

'Princess Dashkova and the Wilmot sisters', in Siobhan Fitzpatrick and Bernadette Cunningham (eds), Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library (Dublin, 2009), pp 249-255.

Media:

• Profiled in A century of scholarship: travelling students of the National University of Ireland (Dublin, 2008), pp 73–4
• Interviewed in Наша Газета (Nasha Gazeta, Ireland’s Russian newspaper), 19 Dec. 2007

Papers Delivered

‘Landscapes of memories: early nineteenth-century British exploratory travels in the North’, Canadian Historical Association annual meeting, University of New Brunswick and St Thomas University (30 May–1 June 2011, TBA)

‘John Lee: an astronomer and antiquary in Ireland, 1806–07’, Adventures in Print: Travel Literature Through the Centuries seminar, National Library of Ireland (12 Nov. 2010)
 

“No longer to be gazed at as a distant glimmering star’: Irish-born British diplomats’ accounts of Russia, 1733–1767’, International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies international seminar for junior scholars, Queen’s University Belfast (16–20 Aug. 2010)
‘Entertainment, memorials and societies’, Maps and Texts: Exploring the Irish Historic Towns Atlas annual seminar, Royal Irish Academy (21 May 2010)
 

‘An alternative biography of Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova: the Russian diaries of Martha and Katherine Wilmot’, Irish Association for Russian, Central and East European Studies annual conference, University College Dublin (23–24 Apr. 2010)

'The Russian travels of Martha and Katherine Wilmot, 1803-08', Cork Heritage Week lecture series, Midleton Library (Aug. 2009).

‘The European travels of John and Dorothea Catherine Ladeveze-Adlercron of Moyglare, 1806–49’, Maynooth Local History Society (May 2009).

‘Irish soldiers in Russia in the long eighteenth century: an overview’, Centre for War Studies seminar series, University College Dublin (Apr. 2009).
 

‘The Wilmot papers: travels in France, Russia and Italy, 1801–22’, Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy lecture series, Royal Irish Academy (Apr. 2009).

''Why wouldn't they content themselves to dress like Christians?': fashion and self-fashioning in late 18th century Russia', Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia annual meeting (Jan. 2009).

‘The Irish in Russia, 1690–1815: an overview’, American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Annual Conference, Atlanta, U.S.A. (March 2007).

‘Irish soldiers in Russia in the ‘long’ eighteenth century’, Ireland: Past and Present Conference, Voronezh State University, Voronezh, Russian Federation (May 2006).

‘The Irish in Russia, 1690–1815: an overview’, Postgraduate Colloquium, N.U.I. Maynooth (March 2006).

‘The Russian diaries of Martha and Katherine Wilmot’, Postgraduate History Seminar, N.U.I. Maynooth (March 2006).

‘The Russian diaries of Martha Wilmot’, Irish History Students Association Annual Conference, Trinity College Dublin (February 2005).

Teaching

English translation teaching assistant at the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Languages, Voronezh State University, Voronezh, Russian Federation, for one semester (2006).
First year (B.A.) history tutor at the Department of History at NUI, Maynooth (2003–5).

Other relevant experience: Editorial Assistant at the Irish Historic Towns Atlas, Royal Irish Academy (2003–2010).
 

Professional Membership

Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society, Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia.

I am also registered with the Network in Canadian History and Environment (http://niche-canada.org) and the Centre de Recherche sur la Littérature des Voyages at Université Paris-Sorbonne/Paris IV (www.crlv.org).

Contact Details

Contact Dr Angela Byrne