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Our People

Dr Frank Ferguson
Research Director - English Language and Literature

Dr Andrew Sneddon
Senior Lecturer in International History

Dr Peter Smith
Reader

Dr Kathryn White
Associate Head of School of Arts & Humanities
Elsewhere on Ulster
Staff, Students and Associates
Research Director - English Language and Literature
Research Director - English Language and Literature
Frank Ferguson is the Director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies. He has over fifteen years' experience as a researcher and teacher in literary studies. He joined Ulster University in 2005 as a Research Associate at the Institute of Ulster Scots Studies and became a lecturer in 2010. Before then he had taught at Queen's University Belfast.
2002, PhD, Queen's University Belfast
1998, MA Modern Literary Studies, Pass with Distinction, Queen's University Belfast
1996, BA English Literature and Modern History,First Class Honours, Queen's University Belfast
Frank Ferguson has written and edited a number of significant texts on Ulster-Scottish literature. Awarded a Distinguished Research Fellowship in 2014, his work on Ulster-Scots writing and book history has been recognised as internationally excellent.
As director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish literature he leads a number of ongoing academic and community projects, such as the Ulster-Scots Education Project and the Ulster Poetry Project.
His research interests include: Ulster and Scottish writing, literary diaspora studies, Scotch-Irish literature and culture, Irish and British book history and the study of the Romantic period ballad in Britain and Ireland.
As research co-ordinator for the English unit at Ulster he welcomes approaches from institutions, groups and individuals who would like to explore opportunities for research partnerships, collaborations and outreach.
He would also like to hear from individuals seeking to conduct Master's and Doctoral Research projects in English Literature at Ulster.
Senior Lecturer in International History
Senior Lecturer in International History
Dr Andrew Sneddon is an historian of early modern and modern social and cultural history. A graduate of University of St Andrews and Lancaster University, he worked as a curator at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and did his post-doctoral work at Queen's University Belfast. He joined Ulster University's History team in 2009.
He has won numerous awards and grants for his research and has dissimilated it all over the world through conference papers, workshops, invited talks and visiting fellowships. His research has been widely published in books, edited chapters, and journal articles, and most recently deals with the history of supernatural in Britain and Ireland in a global context.
He is committed to civic engagement, outreach, and impactful public history and has designed and delivered numerous public exhibitions, workshops, and talks. He has also consulted on and contributed to a wide range of blogs, podcasts, television and radio programmes (BBC, RTE, TG4, ITV) and written for leading newspapers and magazines.
He teaches early modern global history at Ulster University (from undergraduate to PhD level) and has been external examiner for a number of post-graduate programmes at other Universities.
He is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, a previous president of Ulster Society of Irish Historical Studies and currently joint editor of leading journal, Irish Historical Studies
Reader
Reader
Peter Smith (Peadar Mac Gabhann) was appointed Lecturer in Irish at Ulster University in 2000.
He was previously employed as Assistant Professor in Irish at the Department of Classics and as a Research Fellow in Irish Studies at the Keough Institute, University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Before moving to the United States, Dr. Smith held the position of Lecturer in Celtic at the Sprachwissenschaftfliches Institut der Universität Bonn.
He is a founding member of Éigse Cholm Cille, a society established to promote the study of the Irish literary heritage of the North West of Ireland and to encourage new writing in Irish.
He received his early education at the Christian Brothers Grammar School Omagh, and took his primary degree in Early and Modern Irish at Trinity College, Dublin. He also completed an M. Litt. in Early Irish at Trinity College, Dublin.
He studied for his doctorate in Celtic at the University of Oxford. Dr. Smith has held scholarships at Trinity College, Dublin; Jesus College, Oxford and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
The Irish manuscript tradition.
Associate Head of School of Arts & Humanities
Associate Head of School of Arts & Humanities
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