Exhibition commissioned by Foras na Gaeilge, was compiled by Dr Fionntán de Brún, lecturer in Irish at the University of Ulster and Dr Eamon Phoenix, Stranmillis University College.

RAE Results In!

Director - Professor Séamus Mac Mathúna

Celtic Studies at the University of Ulster has performed excellently in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, confirming its 5* gold medal status and placing it at the very top end of both Celtic Studies and language and linguistics departments in the UK. All of the work of the department was assessed as being of international standard, with very substantial evidence of world-leading quality. Ulster was one of only three institutions in Celtic Studies with excellence of this magnitude, and was also joint third out of a total of 249 submissions in languages and linguistics, all of which applied similar marking criteria.

The Research Institute for Irish and Celtic Studies was established in order to administer and develop research in this subject area. The subject was awarded a 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, the highest grade achievable, indicating that the research output of the Institute is of international standing and placing it at the top of research in this area in the United Kingdom. The Institute is now one of the largest research centres of Celtic Studies in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the staff complement having increased considerably in recent times.

Objectives

The main objective of the Institute is to foster and develop a vibrant and high-quality research culture and ethos in all aspects of its work. The success in meeting this objective is reflected and measured in various ways, such as the number of significant works published by members of the Institute, the range and quality of large-scale research projects which have attracted external funding from prestigious grant-awarding agencies, research collaboration with other research institutions at home and abroad, the organisation of conferences and colloquia, the editorships of academic journals and the senior positions held by staff on subject research bodies, and the number of research students and research degrees awarded.