From its inception, the NCFIS has benefitted hugely from the support and collaboration of the French Embassy in Ireland. As a result, it has developed strong links to French universities, especially Caen, La Rochelle, Lille, Reims and Rennes. It has developed a co-tutelle (dual award) with Lille and the student, Sylvain Tondeur, is doing a PhD which examines the way in which the beverages whiskey and poitín are closely aligned to Irish identity.
France
- Université de Caen
- Université de La Rochelle
- Université de Lille
- Université de Rennes 2
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne
Spain
- University of Almeriá
- University of Granada
Ireland
- University College Cork
- University College Dublin
- Trinity College Dublin
- Dublin City University
- Mary Immaculate College
- University of Limerick
Using the existing links that the NCFIS has with various universities in Europe, a consortium is being developed with the universities of Lille, Rennes, Granada, MIC (UL) and TU Dublin to put together an online PhD training programme in the humanities which will apply for Erasmus+ funding.
The NCFIS has organised regular graduate seminars (journées d’étude), to which established academics (such as Professors Anne Goarzin, Catherine Maignant, Grace Neville, Sylvie Mikowski and Dr Eugene O’Brien) have contributed Master Classes in addition to listening to and commenting on student presentations. These form an integral part of one of the three NFQ Level 9 modules developed by the Centre, Humanities Research Methods (5 ECTS credits), the other two being Peer Critique and Communication (5 ECTS credits), and Conference Organisation and Editorial Training (10 ECTS credits).
Closer to home, the NCFIS also has a close relationship with The Priory Institute and the level 8 and 9 degrees that are accredited by TU Dublin. Another initiative of this collaboration involved the development of a summer programme on Irish Catholic identity with partners such as Loras College (Iowa) and Loyola University (Chicago), which to date has not come to fruition. Indeed, a student from Loras, Emmalyne Smith, completed a research Masters in 2017 on the impact of the clerical abuse scandals on the archdiocese of Dubuque (Iowa) and Ireland.
The NCFIS has always sought to broaden its research impact beyond the more traditional Franco-Irish Studies research area. One of the most important impacts in that regard has been the research centre’s continuing involvement with the organisation of the internationally recognised Dublin Gastronomy Symposium.
The NCFIS team were centrally involved in the initiation of this successful conference which is chaired by Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire of TU Dublin. The DGS brings together a large number of Irish and international academics every 2 years to present conference papers during this 2-day symposium hosted at TU Dublin. The NCFIS team continues to be involved in the organising committee of this symposium and the 6th iteration of the DGS will take place in May 2022 with over 60 papers presented from a range of international countries.
- Further detail on DGS outputs is available here.
The NCFIS has engaged with the French Embassy’s FICAHT project through exchange and engagement with two hospitality training schools in France, Lycée Alexandre Dumas, Strasbourg and Lycée Christian Bourquin, Montpellier. The France-Ireland network for Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism (FICAHT) was created from a memorandum of understanding between Campus France and the Irish Higher Education Authority.
Launched in November 2015, the network was created to bring together French and Irish institutions specialising in gastronomy, hospitality and tourism. FICAHT has grown into a collaboration between 60 higher education institutions in France and 17 in Ireland. The NCFIS was invited by the French Embassy to present a research paper on the centre’s involvement in the European View Project at FICAHT’S most recent 2019 conference in Paris and the research centre will also be giving a paper at their upcoming 2022 conference in Galway Ireland.
