Recently archived news and events

[NOTE: you can also view archived RSA activities and events here.]

Summer Barbecue 2024

All-staff BBQ (including retired staff) took place on campus in August 2024.


May 28–30: Roscommon & Leitrim trip, May 2024

Download itinerary here: Roscommon & Leitrim 2024 itinerary .


Tuesday, May 14: 4.00pm: Nicholas Canny Lecture
(Hybrid event: on campus, and via Zoom.)

Professor Emma Hart (University of Pennsylvania) will deliver this year’s Nicholas Canny lecture. The talk will take place at 4.00pm on Tuesday, 14 May 2024. This is a hybrid event. The paper will be delivered in-person, in Room G010, Hardiman Research Building, University of Galway (ground floor) and livestreamed simultaneously on Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/j/93437928233

Tuesday, May 7: 6.00pm

An tOllamh Liam Lillis Ó Laoire will give a talk entitled
Yesterday's Twilight: Séamus Ó Grianna's song Thíos i Lár an Ghleanna in cultural and historical context. This will be followed by light refreshments.


Saturday, May 4: 10am–12 noon

Digital Skills Workshop: Optimising Use of your Smartphone 

Two-hour workshop on campus; will be delivered by an experienced tutor from GRETB. Registration for this event is mandatory and RSA members will be emailed all details + registration form link. 


LAUNCH: Visual History Project | Thursday, April 11, 2024: 3.00pm |Seminar Rooms G010 and G011, Hardiman Building

VIsual History Project Launch President VIsual History Project Launch Jane Conroy

Above: Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, President,
University of Galway, at the
launch of the Visual History Project. 

Above: Professor Jane Conroy at the
launch of the Visual History Project.

Visual History Project

This is the culmination of the project on A Visual History Archive for NUI Galway: the Retired Staff Collection, which, working with the NUI Galway Library, has produced a visual history photographic database up to 1995. The role of retired staff members of the University community in assembling the Archive is recognised through its being titled The Retired Staff Collection. Each image is accompanied by an acknowledgement of its contributor.  This project has been led by Professor Jane Conroy, Professor Gerard Jennings and Dr. Séamus Mac Mathúna. Project website here.

Read press release about this project and its launch. More background on this project is here.


Friday, 22 March, 2024: 12.30–2.00pm.
Aula Maxima, Quadrangle 

Strengthening Relations between the University of Galway and South Africa 

With South African Ambassador in Ireland, Mabet van Rensburg. Event organised by the office of the Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Presentations followed by international food, music and an opportunity to identify people from photos of the academic parade for the conferring of Nelson Mandela, June 20, 2003.


Recent Developments in CMN&HS

March 5, 2024. The next talk in our series was given by Dr. Martina Ní Chúláin, Director of Strategy Development and Process Improvement, in the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences. The talk focussed on the recent developments in the College.  


RSA Lecture Series

Tuesday November 7th 2023  11.30 a.m. Alexander Anderson Board Room in Quadrangle

Dr Áine Ní Chonghaile talked about a south Connemara coastal community surviving and negotiating difficult conditions in the nineteenth century and transitioning into more institutional lifestyles at the end of that century

Several other speakers have been planned for the academic year 2023-24. Further suggestions from members for topics or speakers are welcome.


RSA TRAVEL 2022–2024

The RSA Travel Committee organized a trip to the South-East of Ireland, based in Waterford, 2-5 November 2022. Included in the itinerary was the opera Lalla Roukh in the Wexford Festival Opera, as well as visits to Curraghmore and the Copper Coast. 

The RSA Travel Committee arranged a trip to Norway, 18–25 September 2023. On this tour two nights were spent in Oslo, one in Flåm on the Aurlandsfjord, two in Lofthus on the Hardangerfjord, and two in Bergen, staying in 4-star hotels. The programme included a trip on a scenic railway, a morning fjord cruise, a visit to an open-air folk museum, a reconstructed Viking village, and the Norwegian Nature Centre, as well as tours of  Oslo and Bergen.


Visual History Project: A Visual History Archive for NUI Galway:  The Retired Staff Collection

Do you have, or do you know somebody who hasinteresting photographs or other visual material related in any way to NUI Galway from earlier times?  Please see this notice—Visual History Archive call for contributions—seeking contributions of pre-1995 material for our groundbreaking Visual‌ History‌ Archive, which has recently been awarded funding from the President's Fund for Research on the Institutional History‌ of the University.

Project Team:

Visual History Project Update September 2023

A presentation of the project to date took place on Thursday 28th September in the Moore Institute Seminar Room James Hardiman Library  , to show some of the images already contributed and how they will be displayed online among the Library’s Digital Collections. Particular thanks are due to the Library, the speakers and to all the contributors who are helping to make this a rich and varied archive.

The aim of the project is to compile a comprehensive visual archive and narrative of people’s experiences of the university—be it as student, staff member or both—and provide insights into how it has evolved and what has made it distinctive.

Do you have photographs of your time here that will help to depict what has made the University a special place in which to study and work? What was the experience of being here like for you, or perhaps for your relatives or friends? Where did you attend lectures? Where did you socialise? Did you play sports or join college societies? Were you involved in off-campus research or extramural courses? Who were your classmates, friends, colleagues? Were there any stand-out characters or visitors whom you remember especially? Are there landmarks or buildings that are captured in your photographs?

All photographs and video (up to 1995 inclusive) are welcome provided they depict an aspect of College life, whether on or off campus. They will be scanned in the Library and returned to you. You might like to bring some in with you on the 28th of September or alternatively contact one of the following: Jane Conroy, Séamus Mac Mathúna, Ger Jennings, Jackie Uí Chionna.

So have a search in drawers, cupboards or old albums, and seek out those long forgotten photos. They are an important historic record and will be a lasting legacy for the College and future  generations.