Postgraduate Researchers

Taylor Allgeier-Follett

Thesis title: 'An Arbitrary Misfortune': Negotiating women's relationship to the family in the contemporary Irish novel

Taylor's current research focuses on female characters as they navigate the family in contemporary Irish fiction, including works from authors such as Elske Rahill, Anne Enright, and Niamh Campbell. His additional research interests include gender studies, trans studies, and LGBTQ+ writing in Ireland and beyond. Taylor holds a BA from UC Berkeley, and an MPhil from TCD.

Supervisor: Professor Anne Fogarty

Mathieu Bokestael

Thesis Title: Towards a Caring Communitas: Performing Immunitas and Care in Contemporary Scottish Fictions

Mathieu's dissertation, funded by the Irish Research Council, explores the manner in which theories of immunity and care can help us understand how communities are imagined in contemporary writing about Scotland. Alongside his academic work, Mathieu has also written for the Flemish magazine MO* and coordinated multiple cultural events, such as lectures, readings and film festivals.

Supervisor: Dr Treasa De Loughry

Lia Capotorto

Thesis Title: Joyful Visions? Joy, Confession, and Contemporary Female Performance

Lia’s research analyzes joy and its relationship to contemporary female performance. Her project is situated at the intersection of theatre and performance studies, feminist theory, and performance philosophy. Lia holds a BA from Northeastern University and an MA from University College Dublin in partnership with the Gaiety School of Acting. In addition to her research, Lia is a theatre practitioner and drama tutor. Her professional experience spans arts administration and international higher education.

Supervisor: Dr. Emma Bennett

Thinley Chodon

Thesis Title: "Worlding Contemporary Tibetan Writings of the Global Tibetan Diaspora and Exiles: Exploring Resistance and Tibetanness"

Thinley's doctoral project aims to establish Contemporary Tibetan writing in the context of the transnational and world literary systems which bring to light questions that bear immense importance for postcolonial and world literary frameworks. Thinley is an Irish Research Council Scholarship Awardee.

Supervisor: Dr Treasa De Loughry

Poulomi Choudhury

Thesis Title: Fleshy Food Resources of the Future

Poulomi Choudhury's research explores depictions of meat in dystopian literature within the context of the current climate crisis and resultant food systems. Her study has been awarded the ‘UCD College of Arts and Humanities Doctoral Fee Scholarship’ and will evolve within UCD's Environmental Humanities research collective.

Supervisor: Dr Hannah Boast

Alessandro Combina

Thesis title: Contemporary modernisms: the reconstitution of Europe and the fate of the avant-garde

Alessandro’s research, funded by the Irish Research Council, is part of a broader project that explores the evolution of different national canons and the critical discourse surrounding European literary Modernism, as well as the ideological implications of this evolution. His work focuses specifically on Italian Modernism, examining how the category was constructed, what kind of canon and aesthetic features have been associated with it, and the ideological motivations behind processes of inclusion and exclusion. Before joining UCD, Alessandro studied at the University of Turin and the University of Pittsburgh,
where he also taught Italian language and culture as a teaching fellow.

Primary thesis supervisor: Dr. John Greaney
Thesis Co-Supervisor: Professor John Brannigan

Simon Costello

Thesis Title: The Vertical Corpse: Addiction and the Poetic Memoir

Simon's doctoral research examines addiction in poetry through creative praxis, and the critical study of American poet, Franz Wright. His poetry has been published in The Poetry Review, The London Magazine, The Moth, Bath Magg, and elsewhere. His debut chapbook of poems 'Saturn Devouring' will be published in 2023.

Supervisor: Prof Paul Perry

Kevin Doherty

Thesis Title: The Still Life of Childhood: Early Memory and the Objects of Imagination in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney

Kevin completed a BA in English in 2018 followed by an MA in Anglo-Irish Literature in 2019. His current research is focused on the workings of childhood memory in the poetry of Seamus Heaney. He’d like it to be known that he can’t believe his luck and only hopes that it holds.

Supervisor: Dr Catríona Clutterbuck

Katie Donnelly

Thesis title: Imperilled Bodies: Mining Disasters and Labour Regimes in Nineteenth-Century British Settler Colonial Literature

Supervisor: Dr Sarah Comyn

Beth Doyle

Thesis title: You Dead Women in Your Graves": Reading Resistance in Mid-Century Irish Women's Modernist Poetry

Beth's research considers the ways in which Irish politics of the mid-twentieth century impacted consciously and unconsciously on the works women poets. Her research is concerned with female poets at the intersection between the Irish Literary Revival and modernism; while her methodology combines feminist psychoanalysis with contemporary advancements in affect theory to provide an understanding of how and why women poets are so often occluded from collections of Irish literary achievement. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Irish and a Masters in Modernities: Literature, Theory and Culture from University College Cork.

Supervisor: Assoc. Professor Lucy Collins

Rachel Fehily

Thesis Title: Adoption, An Interdisciplinary Reframing: Memoir, Legality and Multi-racialism

Rachel completed a BA in Economic and Social Studies at TCD before going to The Kings Inns. She was called to the Bar of Ireland. She went to do an MA in Drama and Performance Studies at UCD focusing on playwriting. Her creative based research will take the form of a personal memoir and exegesis from her perspective as a barrister and multi-racial adoptee. Her research is funded by the Irish Research Council.

Supervisor: Professor Eamonn Jordan
Co-supervisor: Professor Sarah Moss

Bernadette Fox‌

Thesis Title : Adrift on the Sea in Beckett’s Prose: An Ecocritical Reading for the Anthropocene

BA International in English, University College Dublin, 2011 - 2015.

MPhil: Irish Writing in English, Trinity College Dublin 2015 - 2016.

PhD English, University College Dublin, 2018 - present.

Supervisor: Professor John Brannigan

Meghann Gaffney

Thesis title: The Single Woman in the Irish Free State: A Cultural History

My current research is funded by SFI and focuses on combining digital methods with literary and historical analysis to examine cultural representations and experiences of single women in the Irish Free State. My broader research interests include gender, women, marriage and the family in twentieth century Ireland.

Primary supervisor: Professor Gerardine Meaney

Secondary supervisor: Dr Leeann Lane (DCU History)

Catherine Godlewsky

Thesis Title : Adam Yet Living: A Critical and Creative Response to Marilynne Robinson’s Philosophical Essays

Catherine holds a B.A. in English from Centenary University and an M.Phil. in Linguistics from Trinity College Dublin. Her current research project pushes the boundaries of formal criticism by blending critical and creative elements in a response to Marilynne Robinson’s philosophical essays.

Supervisors: Ian Davidson and Clare Hayes-Brady

Niall James Holohan

Thesis title: Transcendental Style in Theatre: Beckett, Pinter, Baker

Niall's reflective research project seeks to investigate mindful and creative responses to the attention economy by taking a fresh look at a very distinctive use of silence in theatrical performance. The moments of silence which interest him are those which a playwright intentionally crafts to create stillness and encourage their audience to contemplate their thoughts, emotions, and sensations. His investigation will also take a fresh look at Samuel Beckett's Come and Go (1966), Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska (1982), and Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (2013).

Supervisors: Professor Eamonn Jordan and Dr. Ashley Taggart

Valerie Kennedy

Thesis Title: "They Were All Frightened of Her, Because She Was Such a Strange Girl": Irish Literature, Biopolitics and the 'Unmarried Mother'

Valerie's research is the first extensive examination of Irish literary discourses surrounding the historically stigmatised ‘unmarried mother’ figure. Her research examines broader representations of female sexuality in 20th century popular culture and the influence of church and state narratives in the development of a distinct national cultural identity whilst nation-building post-1922. She is funded by the IRC.

Supervisor: Professor Margaret Kelleher

Michaela Kralova

Thesis-title: Contemporary Publishing Infrastructures in Ireland and Their Effect on Translation: Social Network Analysis

Michaela Králová is an IRC-SFI-funded Ph.D. Candidate. Michaela’s project examines contemporary anglophone publishing infrastructures, with a focus on infrastructures that support voices/stories which have traditionally been underrepresented. Her thesis specifically looks at Ireland and literature in translation. Michaela completed her M.Phil. at the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation. She is a Research Assistant in English at Trinity College Dublin and Curator of the TCD Ukrainian Play-Readings Project.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Tim Groenland
Secondary Supervisor: Prof Margaret Kelleher

Alexander Kroll

Thesis Title: Social Trust and the Small Town in Post-1990 American and Irish Literature.

Alexander Kroll has been awarded a BA in English with Distinction from the University of South Carolina and an M. Phil. in Irish Writing from Trinity College Dublin. He is currently a PhD student researcher taking part of the “Imaginative Literature and Social Trust, 1990-2025” project. His research explores contemporary representations of small-town social trust within Irish and American literature, namely in regard to socio-economic influences. He currently serves as the Secretary of the Irish Association for American Studies.

Supervisor: Dr. Adam Kelly

Michelle Mac Mullan

Thesis Title: The Drumboe Massacre: A Dramatic Exploration of Irish Civil War Violence and Familial Grief, Seen Through the Prism of Execution Epistles (Practice-based PhD Drama: Creative Writing & Essays).

As a former national news anchor and political communications expert, Michelle's research focuses on the timely topic of the horrors of war. Specifically, her doctoral studies examine the lasting impact of Ireland's Civil War (1922 - 1923) on non-combatants. Her work will result in the creation of a stage play based on the little-known tragedy of the Drumboe Martyrs, a group of Anti-Treaty soldiers executed for a crime they did not commit. This emotional work is anchored by the existence of real letters, penned by the Drumboe Martyrs, to their mothers on the morning of their murders. The intersectionality of history, gender, and drama places Michelle in a perfect position as a working playwright and former journalist. In 2024, Michelle's first professional production 'MOTHERHOOD,' enjoyed a week-long, sell-out run at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin.

Supervisor: Professor Eamonn Jordan.

Pearse McCaughey

Thesis Title: The Economics of the Gratefully Oppressed and The Myth of Joycean Dublin

After a thirty-five year career in advertising, I returned to UCD completing a BA in English in 2017, and an MA in Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama. I am currently a PhD student in The School of English Drama and Film and a proud member of the UCD Creative Fellows.

Supervisor: Dr Luca Crispi

Midia Mohammadi

Thesis Title: Narcissistic Women In Search of Lost Selfhood: A Study in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century American Fiction

Supervisor: Dr Katherine Fama

Iulia Molnar

Thesis title: 'Literary representations of Irish and East European Jewish migrants in Britain in the late 19th century: a comparative study'

Iulia is an ERC-funded and Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics-affiliated doctoral researcher. She joined the VICTEUR project team in January 2022. Her research interests tend to focus on intersectionality, women’s writing, and Victorian literature. She holds an MLitt degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Glasgow (2021) and has earned her Bachelor’s degree in Teacher Training in Secondary Education in English and French from the University of Hamburg (2019).

Supervisor: Professor Gerardine Meaney

Clare Ní Cheallaigh

Thesis Title: Material Tales: African storyteller-authors in the literary marketplace

Clare is an Ad Astra PhD candidate whose research examines the processes and implications of the transformation of oral tradition into a literary product. She is specifically interested in the work of D. O. Fágúnwà, Thomas Mofolo, Amos Tútùọlá, Ben Okri and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. Clare holds a BA in English Literature and Greek from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in World Literature from the University of Oxford.

Supervisor: Dr Sarah Comyn

Gráinne Ní Nualláin

Thesis Title: Mind Your Language: Taboo Femininity and the Realities of Being in Magical Realism

Gráinne studied her BA in English, followed by an MA in Renaissance Literature, both at UCD (2013-2018). Her studies, while always fiercely feminist in nature, are currently focused on representations of "taboo" femininities, including menstruation and sexuality, and the historical (mis)treatment of female illness, with an interest in the medical humanities.

Supervisor: Dr Sharae Deckard

Phoebe O'Leary

Thesis Title: Unremembered Trauma: Cultural Memories of the AIDS Crisis in Ireland.

Phoebe is an artist and interdisciplinary researcher investigating the relationship between performance practice and AIDS histories. Her research and teaching interests encompass contemporary performance and theatre practice, health policy, social epidemiology, queer theory, and bisexual epistemologies. She holds an MSc in Sexuality and Gender from the University of Amsterdam and an MPhil in Performance Studies from Trinity College Dublin.

Supervisor: Dr Cormac O'Brien

Caylum O’Neill

Thesis title: 'Queer Migrants in the Contemporary Imagination: Depictions of Queer Migration to Berlin and London in 21st Century Literature and Television'

Caylum completed a BA in English and German and an MA in English at the University of Limerick, before beginning his PhD within the ERC-funded VICTEUR project in 2022. His thesis is co-supervised by the schools of English, Drama & Film and Languages, Cultures & Linguistics. Caylum’s research is concerned with depictions of LGBTQ migrants to Berlin and London in contemporary German and English literature and television.

Primary Thesis Supervisor: Professor Gerardine Meaney

Chloe (Teddy) Power postgrad reseach photo

Chloe Power

Thesis Title: The Progressive Fantastic: Race, Gender, Sexuality and the Evolution of Transmedia Fantasy 2010-2021

Chloe's research focuses on the interdisciplinary fields of fantasy in television and literature, offering an inter-sectional analysis of the representation of gender, race and sexuality in the contemporary genre. Its interdisciplinary methodology combines analysis of fantasy novels with television adaptations,exploring the emergence of fantasy TV and the inter-medial impact of the genre’s new prominence in the market.

Supervisor: Assoc Professor Jorie Lagerwey & Assoc Professor Sharae Deckard

Theresa Power

Thesis Title: Sexual Violence in Contemporary Irish Literature: Challenging Hegemonic Discourses

Theresa holds a BA in English and Sociology from Maynooth University, and an MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture from UCD. Her research examines how hegemonic discourses shape understandings of sexual violence, often to the detriment of survivors, with the objective of demonstrating how literature can provide an alternative to these discourses by way of nuanced, complex and survivor-focused representations of sexual violence.

Supervisor: Dr. Ailise Bulfin

Bellatrix Scindens

Thesis Title: Writing Poetry In The Stars

Bella studied for a Bachelor's degree in Archaeology & Anthropology, and a Masters' degree in Medieval Studies at Magdalen College Oxford and King's College London respectively. Her research focuses on the development of Computus as a genre of literature in early medieval England.

Supervisor: Assoc. Professor Rebecca Stephenson

Deborah Schrijvers

Thesis title: Decolonizing Extinction: Intersections of Race, Gender, and Species in Contemporary Art and Literature

Deborah's research focuses on decolonizing extinction, paying special attention to gender and race through analyses of contemporary, transnational literature, film and art. Her research interests include: critical animal studies, vegan studies, gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory and black studies.

Supervisor: Dr. Hannah Boast

Robin Steve

Thesis title: Stitched Creatures: at the intersection(s) between Trans* Poetics, Trans* Ecologies, and Trans* Temporalities

Robin has a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Lancaster University and an MA in Literature and Culture from UCD. Their current research, through both creative and critical praxis, focuses on looking at the intersections between Trans* Poetics, Trans* Ecologies, and Trans* Temporalities. Their poems have been published on Honest Ulsterman and Abridged.

Supervisor: Dr Sharae Deckard

Tiffany Walsh

Thesis Title: Dis- and Misinformation within the Irish Context: The Appropriation of DSGBV by Ethnonationalist Discourse to Construct the 'Violent Other'

Tiffany (she/her) has a Bachelor of Arts with a Double Major in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies from the University of Alberta, and a Masters in Social Work from Trinity College Dublin. She is an Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarship recipient and is exploring how Irish ethnonationalist media misappropriates the issue of gendered violence to incite xenophobia.

Supervisors Name: Dr. Diretnan Dikwal-Bot

Lorna Watters

Thesis Title: RIP.ie, Irishness, and Death on Social Media

Lorna completed her BA in English and Film at University College Dublin in 2019 and her MA in Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast in 2020. Her current research focuses on Irishness and Death in Social Media with a particular focus on the popular obituary site RIP.ie.

Supervisor: Assoc Professor Jorie Lagerwey

Justine Zapin

Thesis Title: Settling the Irish Question? Bernard Shaw, Irish Dissident Dramatist

Justine's research focuses on the role of space and the material staging of Bernard Shaw's Irish plays in Dublin. Other interests include the Anglo-Irish dramatists of the Restoration and the impact of Michael Chekhov's psycho-physical approach on contemporary continental theatre.

Supervisor: Professor Eamonn Jordan

Zoe Zavrotny

Thesis Title: 'Affective Communication: Irish Victorian Horror Literature as Life Writing'

Zoe’s doctoral research focuses on understanding Irish Victorian Horror Literature as a form of life writing through the use of affect theory, exploring the lives and literature of authors like J. Sheridan Le Fanu and Charlotte Riddell. Her research areas of interest include Gothic and Victorian literature, Postcolonialism, and archival work. Zoe holds a BA in English Literature from University of Maryland, College Park and an MA in Irish Literature from UCD.

Supervisor: Professor Margaret Kelleher

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