TCD Scholars awarded Inaugural Eda Sagarra Medal

Posted on: 03 August 2007

Two Trinity College graduates will be among the first recipients of the inaugural Eda Sagarra medal of excellence for scholars of the humanities and social sciences from The Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS).

Dr. Heather Jones, of the Department of History and Prof. Nicholas Allen, a graduate of the English Department were nominated by Trinity College for their excellent research in the area of the humanities. The IRCHSS has commissioned the Eda Sagarra medals to recognise outstanding IRCHSS postgraduate scholars who have successfully completed their doctoral theses. The medals will be awarded at a ceremony to be held in Autumn 2007 in Dublin Castle .

The IRCHSS medal is named in honour of Professor Eda Sagarra, Fellow Emeritus in the Department of Germanic Studies TCD, to highlight her contribution to Irish Higher Education through her dynamic promotion of research excellence in the Humanities and Social Sciences and her own scholarly pursuits and research publications. Professor Sagarra was the first chairperson of the IRCHSS and served from 1999 to 2004, and was integral in the establishment of the council.

An undergraduate of TCD and a Foundation Scholar of the College, Dr. Jones obtained First Class Honors with a Gold Medal for her B.A. degree in English and History. After an M. Phil. in American Literature at the University of Cambridge as a British Council Chevening Scholar, she returned to TCD with an IRCHSS Scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in the Department of History. Her thesis was completed in 2006 and was considered by the examiners to be a major contribution to the cultural, social and legal history of the conduct of modern war.  In 2004, Dr Jones was awarded a prestigious scholarship by the Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne (France). In 2007 she was appointed to the small executive board of the Historial’s international Research Centre. In 2007-8, she takes up a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship at the European University Institute, Florence , which she will use to turn her thesis into a book.

Since graduating in 2000, Prof Allen’s work has been internationally recognized.He has won major awards: Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences ( 2001 ~ 02 ) ; Spray-Randleigh fellow, UNC Chapel Hill (2004, 2003); Faculty of Arts Visiting Fellow, National University of Ireland Galway (2005); IBM Junior Faculty Research Development Award, UNC (2005); University Research Council Award, UNC Chapel Hill (2004); Centre for European Studies Research Travel Award, UNC Chapel Hill (2004), and Mellon Fellowship, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre, University of Texas at Austin (2006). In a remarkably short period of time, he has achieved tenure at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States , The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .

Since its inception in 1999, the IRCHSS has granted academic scholarships to postgraduate students to pursue research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. These awards are made on the basis of research excellence and are assessed by a panel of international experts. To date, the Council has made over 720 such awards. The Chief Officers of the relevant higher education institutes were invited to nominate scholars from their respective registrants for the accolade of the Eda Sagarra Medal. The selection of awardees was made by an Assessment Board chaired by the Chair of the IRCHSS and comprising four external assessors.