Irish Studies Student Receives Bursary to Fund Research

A third year PhD student from the Centre for Irish Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, has been awarded a bursary from the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH) that will go towards funding his research. This is the second bursary Mike Mecham has received, following a Postgraduate Bursary award from the British Association for Irish Studies (BAIS) in June 2014. The SSLH bursary will fund a visit to Belfast at the end of April for Mike’s research on the labour leader William Walker. The SSLH is the principal body in the UK for labour history and have been publishing Labour History Review for many years. It offers bursaries of up to £500 for PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and independent scholars in the field of labour history to fund essential archive or library research that they are unable to undertake due to absence of funds. Mike who is also a Visiting Lecturer on the MA Irish Studies programme at St Mary’s said, “Clearly, I am delighted to have been honoured in this way by my peers and the support given by my colleagues at St Mary’s.” Along with this recent accolade, Mike will also be presenting a paper at the Four Nations History conference at Kings College on Friday 20th February, a rework of the original text, and is hoping to be featured in a conference hosted by St John's College in April titled Class in 20th Century Ireland.