Graduate Studies

School of Geography & Archaeology

Both departments in the School offer research-based postgraduate degrees leading to either an M.Litt or PhD.

The Department of Geography conducts research in a wide range of topics including social geography, rural change and development, environmental sciences and environmental change, physical geography, GIS, cultural and historical geography, political geography, biogeography. The Department is one of nine partners in a new EU Framework 7 Programme titled, ’Developing Europe’s Rural Regions in the Era of Globalization’ (DERREG). NUI Galway will play a key role in three areas of the project:

• International Mobility and Migration of the Rural Population
• Environmental Capital and Sustainable Rural Development
• Capacity Building, Governance and Knowledge Systems
  

The department has a large practical room with cartographic facilities, a number of small laboratories, a PC and GIS suite and an extensive map collection. Geography students have access to the university computer network.

For further information on the Department of Geography click here.

Recent PhD Student Testimonial in Geography

Dr. Maura Farrell (Geography)

Thesis Title: Embracing Multifunctional Agriculture in the Republic of Ireland: Towards a New Extension Ethic

Summary: This thesis was completed under the supervision of Dr. John McDonagh, Department of Geography and contextualises what is widely acknowledged as a rural paradigm shift.  The PhD research critiques the role of contemporary extension policies in the Republic of Ireland and questions the reliance on traditional practices in delivering advice and services that facilitate farm families to adapt, adjust and remain economically viable in a sector that continues to be highly vulnerable locally and globally.  Using an action evaluation methodology, the study delivers both research and action outcomes through its investigation of the delivery of a multifunctional extension advisory programme, namely The Options for Farm Families Programme.

The Department of Archaeology has a strong track-record in pioneering evidence-based research. Our research informs regional, national and international discourse about societies and civilisation on the island of Ireland and Atlantic Europe, it maintains currency in undergraduate and graduate teaching programmes and engages local communities in an understanding of their past. Staff and graduate students work closely together to advance themes in archaeological research. Research Clusters within the Department of Archaeology:

• The Burren Landscape Through Time;
• Landscape Archaeology;
• Ritual and Place;
• Material Culture, Art and Society;
• Gaelic and Colonial Ireland;
• Public Archaeology.

For further information on research in the Department of Archaeology click here.

Recent PhD Student Testimonials in Archaeology

Dr. James McKeon
"I pushed myself to achieve things I never thought I could. I had amazing support from my supervisor"
Thesis Title: Anglo-Norman Frontier Urban Settlement in the Plantagenet realm: studies from south Connacht
Summary: This thesis contributes to the study of Anglo-Norman towns by examining the development of Athenry, Dunmore, Galway and Loughrea in the 13 ^th and 14 ^th centuries. It argues that the towns should not be seen primarily as frontier settlements. Instead they lived on trade with their rural Irish neighbours. McKeon compares the towns of south Connacht with those in Gascony and Wales.

Dr. Gerard Dowling
Thesis Title: The Architecture of Power: An Examination of the Concept of Closely Spaced Multivallation in Ireland
Summary: Gerard Dowling's thesis on prehistoric multivallation in Ireland, completed under the supervision of Conor Newman, Department of Archaeology, is a pioneering study of the practice of enclosing a monument with a series of closely-spaced ramparts and ditches. The best known example is the so-called Rath of the Synods on the celebrated Hill of Tara.

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