LOVE · Love Across the Divide in Northern Irish Literature and Culture: 1968 - present

LOVE will enable the experienced researcher, Dr. Alison Garden (AG) to undertake a 24-month fellowship at Queen’s University Belfast QUB) to deliver a project on ‘Love across the Divide’ in Northern Irish literary and cultural texts from 1968 onwards, under the supervision of Professor Fran Brearton (FB). This period of mobility will see AG learn new research-specific skills through working closely with academic experts at QUB; continue her professional development by attending courses offered by the QUB ‘Staff Training and Development Unit’ (STDU); conduct outreach activities with local schools through a partnership with international storytelling organisation, Narrative4 (N4); and gain research-relevant inter-sectoral experience through prestigious secondments at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace (SHH; (from months [M]7-9) and the British Broadcasting Corporation Northern Ireland (BBC NI; M13-16). Combining critical and practice-based methods will generate pioneering research, which will be innovatively disseminated for diverse audiences within and beyond the academy. LOVE will augment and advance AG’s international reputation as a leading scholar of interdisciplinary literary research.