Having earned a BA at UCC and an MA at University of Sheffield, I completed a PhD in 2016 at University of Galway funded by Irish Research Council and Hardiman scholarships. Over the following six years, I held a National Endowment for the Humanities postdoctoral fellowship at University of Notre Dame, a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental humanities at Stockholm University, and an MSCA Individual Fellowship at Uppsala University. In 2020, I was awarded a Swedish Reseach Council Project Grant (c.420,000 euro), which I am still leading through a part-time position at Stockholm University (co-investigarors: Dr Benjamin Gearey, UCC; Dr Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir, Uppsala University).
I have published widely in environmental history and landscape archaeology, including the award-winning book Transhumance and the Making of Ireland’s Uplands, 1550-1900.
I have taught and supervised both undergraduiate and postgraduate students at Galway, Stockholm and Uppsala and, as Lecturer here at UCC, I am now teaching late medieval and early modern history.
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in the following areas:
- environmental history
- climate history
- cultural heritage and landscape archaeology
- social and economic history in Europe
- comparative Irish, Scottish and Scandinavian history
- rural studies, peasant studies
- history of agriculture and animal farming
Is staraí agus seandálaí mé. Bí i dteagmháil liom má tá suim agaibh sna topaicí thuasluaite.
You can follow my updates on:
https://ucc-ie.academia.edu/EugeneCostello
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eugene_Costello2
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=r3YLZqMAAAAJ&hl=en
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1084-7585
https://twitter.com/booleying
· European Society for Environmental History Article Prize 2023 – Honourable Mention
· European Association of Archaeologists Book Prize 2023 – Shortlisted
· SCAS Pro Futura Scientia Fellowship 2022 (SEK c.5,000,000 – declined for this position)
· Shortlisted for Irish Research Council Early Career Researcher of the Year Award 2021
· NUI Publication Prize in Irish History 2018-21 – Special Commendation (€1,000)
· American Conference for Irish Studies – Murphy Prize for Distinguished 1st Book 2020 ($500)
· Swedish Research Council Project in Humanities & Social Sciences, 2021-25 (SEK 4,360,000)
· Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship, 2021-23 (€191,852)
· NUI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Humanities, 2020-22 (€109,840, declined one year, i.e. €54,920)
· Teach@Tübingen Fellowship, Apr. 2021 – Apr. 2022 (€29,236 – declined)
· Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Research Grant (£812)
· Albert & Maria Bergström Foundation fieldwork scholarship 2019 (SEK 31,700)
· Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Humanities 2018-20, Stockholm Uni. (SEK 935,000)
· Landscape Archaeology Conference Bursary 2018 (£195)
· Ruralia 2017 Jean-Marie Pesez Conference Bursary (€500)
· National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship 2016-17 ($60,000)
· Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Paul Courtney Student Travel Award 2016 (£45)
· Sieg and Dunlop Bursary Award 2016 – International Congress on Medieval Studies (€1,500)
· Irish Research Council New Foundations Award 2015 (€2,459)
· Irish Federation of University Teachers 50th Anniversary Award 2015 (€2,000)
· Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement Conference Bursary 2015 (€153)
· Society for Medieval Archaeology Conference Bursary 2014 (£50)
· NUI Galway Travel Bursary 2013/14 (€58)
· NUI Galway Travel Bursary 2012/13 (€256)
· NUI Galway Hardiman Doctoral Scholarship 2012-16 (€81,100 – of which I declined €60,825)
· Irish Research Council Doctoral Scholarship 2012-15 (€60,825)
· University of Sheffield Robert Kiln Bursary in Landscape Archaeology 2011/12 (£1,500)
· Undergraduate of Ireland Award 2011
· UCC College Scholar in Arts 2010/2011 (€1,000)
· UCC College Scholar in Arts 2009/2010 (€1,000)
· Colmcille Bursary for Irish learners of Scots Gaelic at Sabhal Mor Ostaig 2010 (£280)
· National University of Ireland Dr. H.H. Stewart Literary Scholarship Award in Irish 2009
For 2022/23, I am co-designing and co-leading the second-year history core module, 'HI2108: Ireland, Europe and the Wider World I' (with Dr David Edwards)
Past teaching and supervision:
I have also given guest lectures to students in geoarchaeology in UCC, in early modern history at University of Limerick, and in heritage and memory at University of Amsterdam.
During my postdoctoral fellowship in environmental humanities at Stockholm University (2018-20), I taught on a first-year Medieval and Historical Archaeology module and held seminars with Masters students on human-animal relations. I also taught gender history for the interdisciplinary module, Spaces and Identities, as part of Stockholm University's Doctoral School in Humanities. In the more distant past, I have served as lecturer and tutor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies in NUI Galway.
Moreover, through Stockholm University's Centre for the Advancement of University Teaching, I have completed two courses totalling 15 ECTS aimed at Professional Development in Teaching.
Biography
I am a historian and archaeologist with an interest in farming practices and environmental change in the late medieval and early modern world (c.1250 to 1850 AD). I am based in both the Radical Humanities Laboratory and the School of History.Having earned a BA at UCC and an MA at University of Sheffield, I completed a PhD in 2016 at University of Galway funded by Irish Research Council and Hardiman scholarships. Over the following six years, I held a National Endowment for the Humanities postdoctoral fellowship at University of Notre Dame, a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental humanities at Stockholm University, and an MSCA Individual Fellowship at Uppsala University. In 2020, I was awarded a Swedish Reseach Council Project Grant (c.420,000 euro), which I am still leading through a part-time position at Stockholm University (co-investigarors: Dr Benjamin Gearey, UCC; Dr Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir, Uppsala University).
I have published widely in environmental history and landscape archaeology, including the award-winning book Transhumance and the Making of Ireland’s Uplands, 1550-1900.
I have taught and supervised both undergraduiate and postgraduate students at Galway, Stockholm and Uppsala and, as Lecturer here at UCC, I am now teaching late medieval and early modern history.
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in the following areas:
- environmental history
- climate history
- cultural heritage and landscape archaeology
- social and economic history in Europe
- comparative Irish, Scottish and Scandinavian history
- rural studies, peasant studies
- history of agriculture and animal farming
Is staraí agus seandálaí mé. Bí i dteagmháil liom má tá suim agaibh sna topaicí thuasluaite.
You can follow my updates on:
https://ucc-ie.academia.edu/EugeneCostello
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eugene_Costello2
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=r3YLZqMAAAAJ&hl=en
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1084-7585
https://twitter.com/booleying
Research Interests
Research grants and awards:· European Society for Environmental History Article Prize 2023 – Honourable Mention
· European Association of Archaeologists Book Prize 2023 – Shortlisted
· SCAS Pro Futura Scientia Fellowship 2022 (SEK c.5,000,000 – declined for this position)
· Shortlisted for Irish Research Council Early Career Researcher of the Year Award 2021
· NUI Publication Prize in Irish History 2018-21 – Special Commendation (€1,000)
· American Conference for Irish Studies – Murphy Prize for Distinguished 1st Book 2020 ($500)
· Swedish Research Council Project in Humanities & Social Sciences, 2021-25 (SEK 4,360,000)
· Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship, 2021-23 (€191,852)
· NUI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Humanities, 2020-22 (€109,840, declined one year, i.e. €54,920)
· Teach@Tübingen Fellowship, Apr. 2021 – Apr. 2022 (€29,236 – declined)
· Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Research Grant (£812)
· Albert & Maria Bergström Foundation fieldwork scholarship 2019 (SEK 31,700)
· Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Humanities 2018-20, Stockholm Uni. (SEK 935,000)
· Landscape Archaeology Conference Bursary 2018 (£195)
· Ruralia 2017 Jean-Marie Pesez Conference Bursary (€500)
· National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship 2016-17 ($60,000)
· Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Paul Courtney Student Travel Award 2016 (£45)
· Sieg and Dunlop Bursary Award 2016 – International Congress on Medieval Studies (€1,500)
· Irish Research Council New Foundations Award 2015 (€2,459)
· Irish Federation of University Teachers 50th Anniversary Award 2015 (€2,000)
· Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement Conference Bursary 2015 (€153)
· Society for Medieval Archaeology Conference Bursary 2014 (£50)
· NUI Galway Travel Bursary 2013/14 (€58)
· NUI Galway Travel Bursary 2012/13 (€256)
· NUI Galway Hardiman Doctoral Scholarship 2012-16 (€81,100 – of which I declined €60,825)
· Irish Research Council Doctoral Scholarship 2012-15 (€60,825)
· University of Sheffield Robert Kiln Bursary in Landscape Archaeology 2011/12 (£1,500)
· Undergraduate of Ireland Award 2011
· UCC College Scholar in Arts 2010/2011 (€1,000)
· UCC College Scholar in Arts 2009/2010 (€1,000)
· Colmcille Bursary for Irish learners of Scots Gaelic at Sabhal Mor Ostaig 2010 (£280)
· National University of Ireland Dr. H.H. Stewart Literary Scholarship Award in Irish 2009
Publications
Books
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2020) | Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550-1900. Eugene Costello (2020) Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550-1900. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. [DOI] [Details] |
Edited Books
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2018) | Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance across Europe Eugene Costello, Eva Svensson (Ed.). (2018) Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance across Europe London: Routledge. [DOI] [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2023) | 'Environmental histories of agriculture in early modern Britain and Ireland' Elly Robson, Eugene Costello and John Morgan (2023) 'Environmental histories of agriculture in early modern Britain and Ireland'. Agricultural History Review, 71 (2) [Details] | |
| (2023) | 'Adapting to the Little Ice Age in pastoral regions: An interdisciplinary approach to climate history in north-west Europe' Eugene Costello and Kevin Kearney and Benjamin Gearey (2023) 'Adapting to the Little Ice Age in pastoral regions: An interdisciplinary approach to climate history in north-west Europe'. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, 0 (0):1-20 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2022) | 'Agriculture and the Integration of British Colonial Migrants in Early Modern Ireland' Eugene Costello (2022) 'Agriculture and the Integration of British Colonial Migrants in Early Modern Ireland'. Journal of Migration History, 8 (2):291-312 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2021) | 'The Colonisation of Uplands in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Climate, Agriculture and Environmental Adaptation' Eugene Costello (2021) 'The Colonisation of Uplands in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Climate, Agriculture and Environmental Adaptation'. Medieval Archaeology, 65 (1) [DOI] [Full Text] [Details] | |
| (2020) | 'Hill farmers, habitats and time: the potential of historical ecology in upland management and conservation' Eugene Costello; (2020) 'Hill farmers, habitats and time: the potential of historical ecology in upland management and conservation'. Landscape Research, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Temporary freedoms? Ethnoarchaeology of female herders at seasonal sites in northern Europe' Eugene Costello; (2018) 'Temporary freedoms? Ethnoarchaeology of female herders at seasonal sites in northern Europe'. World Archaeology, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2017) | 'Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland' Eugene Costello; (2017) 'Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland'. Journal of Social Archaeology, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2017) | 'Medieval memories and the reformation of religious identity: Catholic and Anglican interactions with parish church sites in County Limerick, Ireland' Eugene Costello; (2017) 'Medieval memories and the reformation of religious identity: Catholic and Anglican interactions with parish church sites in County Limerick, Ireland'. Post-Medieval Archaeology, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Feirmeoirí faoi Cheilt: Dul Chun Cinn agus Dúshláin sa Taighde faoi Ghnás an Bhuailteachais' Costello, Eugene (2016) 'Feirmeoirí faoi Cheilt: Dul Chun Cinn agus Dúshláin sa Taighde faoi Ghnás an Bhuailteachais'. Béaloideas: The Journal of The Folklore of Ireland Society, [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Seasonal settlement and the interpretation of upland archaeology in the Galtee Mountains, Ireland' Eugene Costello; (2016) 'Seasonal settlement and the interpretation of upland archaeology in the Galtee Mountains, Ireland'. Landscape History, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Post-medieval upland settlement and the decline of transhumance: a case-study from the Galtee Mountains, Ireland' Eugene Costello; (2015) 'Post-medieval upland settlement and the decline of transhumance: a case-study from the Galtee Mountains, Ireland'. Landscape History, [DOI] [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2023) | 'Adaptation at altitude: using mountains to explore the long-term resilience of Irish settlement and farming' Eugene Costello (2023) 'Adaptation at altitude: using mountains to explore the long-term resilience of Irish settlement and farming' In: Murphy, M., Tracey, R. & Lyttleton, J (eds). Past, Present & Future of Irish Settlement Studies. Dubllin: Four Courts Press. [Details] | |
| (2021) | 'Imagining and identifying seasonal resource exploitation on the margins of medieval Ireland' Eugene Costello (2021) 'Imagining and identifying seasonal resource exploitation on the margins of medieval Ireland' In: Seasonal Settlement in the Medieval and Early Modern Countryside. Leiden: Sidestone Press. [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Transhumant pastoralism in historic landscapes' Eugene Costello, Eva Svensson (2018) 'Transhumant pastoralism in historic landscapes' In: Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance across Europe. London: Routledge. [Details] | |
| (2018) | 'Morphology of transhumant settlements in post-medieval South Connemara: A case study in adaptation' Eugene Costello (2018) 'Morphology of transhumant settlements in post-medieval South Connemara: A case study in adaptation' In: Eugene Costello and Eva Svensson (eds). Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance across Europe. London: Routledge. [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Seasonal management of cattle in the booleying system: new insights from South Connemara, western Ireland' Eugene Costello (2016) 'Seasonal management of cattle in the booleying system: new insights from South Connemara, western Ireland' In: Michael O'Connell, Fergus Kelly, James H. McAdam (eds). Cattle in Ancient and Modern Ireland: Farming Practices, Environment and Economy. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [Details] |
Research Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2022) | Final excavation report, Bridia 2 enclosure, Co. Kerry. Report submitted to National Monuments Service, Ireland. 15 pp. Eugene Costello & Caitríona Moore (2022) Final excavation report, Bridia 2 enclosure, Co. Kerry. Report submitted to National Monuments Service, Ireland. 15 pp. Research Report [Details] | |
| (2022) | Final excavation report, Bridia 1 hut site, Co. Kerry. Report submitted to National Monuments Service, Ireland. 34 pp. Eugene Costello & Caitríona Moore (2022) Final excavation report, Bridia 1 hut site, Co. Kerry. Report submitted to National Monuments Service, Ireland. 34 pp. Research Report [Details] |
Online Multimedia
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2021) | The lost art of 'booleying' in Ireland. RTÉ Brainstorm article and podcast. Eugene Costello (2021) The lost art of 'booleying' in Ireland. RTÉ Brainstorm article and podcast. Online Multimedia [Details] |
Unpublished Reports
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2019) | Grousemount Wind Farm, Kilgarvan, County Kerry: Final Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Report. 205 pp. John Cronin & Associates Ltd., for ESB Wind Energy. David Murphy & Eugene Costello (2019) Grousemount Wind Farm, Kilgarvan, County Kerry: Final Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Report. 205 pp. John Cronin & Associates Ltd., for ESB Wind Energy. Unpublished Reports [Details] |
Other Journals
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2012) | 'Beithígh ar buaile: Transhumance in 19th and 20th century Ireland' Eugene Costello (2012) 'Beithígh ar buaile: Transhumance in 19th and 20th century Ireland' Trowel (Ucd Postgraduate Journal), . [Details] | |
| (2011) | 'Blossom Gate: A late medieval gatehouse' Eugene Costello (2011) 'Blossom Gate: A late medieval gatehouse' Kilmallock Historical Journal, . [Details] |
Teaching Activities
Teaching Interests
Current teaching responsibilities:For 2022/23, I am co-designing and co-leading the second-year history core module, 'HI2108: Ireland, Europe and the Wider World I' (with Dr David Edwards)
Past teaching and supervision:
- Teaching and supervision of students in Masters in Global Environmental History at Uppsala University (with Prof Anneli Ekblom)
- 5 ECTS case study at UCC for second-year History students, i.e. 'Ireland in a New World: Climate Change and Atlantic Capitalism, c.1250-1750' (HI2105: Case Studies in Research Skills)
- Co-ordination of 5 ECTS second-year module at UCC in Heritage Management (AR2044, with Dr Colin Rynne)
- Co-supervision of MPhil student, Katherine Dezsofi (with Dr Benjamin Gearey). Thesis title: Exploring Late Holocene Landscape Change in the south Kerry Uplands
I have also given guest lectures to students in geoarchaeology in UCC, in early modern history at University of Limerick, and in heritage and memory at University of Amsterdam.
During my postdoctoral fellowship in environmental humanities at Stockholm University (2018-20), I taught on a first-year Medieval and Historical Archaeology module and held seminars with Masters students on human-animal relations. I also taught gender history for the interdisciplinary module, Spaces and Identities, as part of Stockholm University's Doctoral School in Humanities. In the more distant past, I have served as lecturer and tutor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies in NUI Galway.
Moreover, through Stockholm University's Centre for the Advancement of University Teaching, I have completed two courses totalling 15 ECTS aimed at Professional Development in Teaching.
Contact details
-
Lecturer and Principal Investigator - ecostello@ucc.ie
- www.ucc.ie/en/future-humanities/radical/