I am a historian and archaeologist with three broad areas of interest:

• farming practices and environmental change in the pre-industrial world
• the history of capitalism and resource exploitation
• the past, present and future of rural communities

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 am based in both the Radical Humanities Laboratory and the School of History. In December 2025 I was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to study the origins and impacts of commercial cattle farming in Europe (DeepCattle).

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. After that 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. In 2020, I was awarded a major Swedish Research Council Project Grant worth c.400,000 euro (co-investigators: Dr Benjamin Gearey, UCC; Dr Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir, Uppsala University; other collaborators: Dr Kevin Kearney, AMS Ltd.; Petter Larsson, Helsinki University). I joined UCC in 2023 as Lecturer / Assistant Professor in Radical Humanities and was promoted to Professor (Scale 2) in 2026.

I have taught and supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate students at Galway, Stockholm and Uppsala and, here at UCC, I am teaching late medieval and early modern history (see below). I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students and postdocs in the following areas:

• environmental history
• climate history
• late medieval and early modern Ireland
• landscape archaeology and historical archaeology
• social and economic history in Europe
• Irish, Scottish and Scandinavian history
• rural studies, peasant studies
• agriculture, pastoralism and animal farming
• biocultural heritage and historical ecology

Gaeilge: Is staraí agus seandálaí mé. Tá suim ar leith agam i stair na tuaithe agus i stair na feirmeoireachta, go háirithe an tuiscint atá ag muintir na tuaithe ar an dtírdhreach agus na slite éagsúla inar chuaigh siad i bhfeidhm ar an dtimpeallacht san fhad-téarma. Is spéis liom an tréimhse ama idir c.1200 agus 1850 AD - ré chinniúnach inar thosnaigh feirmeoirí na hEorpa ag plé le fórsaí móra eacnamaíochta agus le hathruithe doimhne sóisialta, chomh maith leis an réimse dúshláin nádúrtha a d'eascair as an 'Little Ice Age' i rith an ama san.

Is féidir mo chuid nuashonraithe agus foilseacháin a leanúint ar na cainéalacha so: 
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=r3YLZqMAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugene-costello-58016b8b/
https://ucc-ie.academia.edu/EugeneCostello
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eugene_Costello2

Research grants and awards:

• PI, European Research Council Consolidator Grant, 2026-31 (€ 2,000,000). DeepCattle: The Deep History of Commercial Cattle Farming in Europe, c.1240-1840 AD
• Enterprise Ireland Research Support Grant 2024 (€16,000)
• European Society for Environmental History Article Prize 2023 – Honourable Mention
• European Association of Archaeologists Book Prize 2023 – Shortlisted
• Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study Pro Futura Scientia Fellowship 2022 (SEK c.4,000,000 – declined for this position)
• Shortlisted for Irish Research Council Early Career Researcher of the Year Award 2021
• National University of Ireland Publication Prize in Irish History 2018-21 – Special Commendation (€1,000)
• American Conference for Irish Studies – Murphy Prize for Distinguished 1st Book 2020 ($500)
• PI, Swedish Research Council Project Grant in Humanities & Social Sciences, 2021 (SEK 4,360,000)
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship, 2021 (€191,852)
• National University of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, 2020 (€109,840, declined one year, i.e. €54,920)
• Teach@Tübingen Fellowship, 2021 (€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 University (SEK 935,000)
• Landscape Archaeology Conference Bursary 2018
• 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
• 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
• Society for Medieval Archaeology Conference Bursary 2014
• NUI Galway Travel Bursary 2013/14
• NUI Galway Travel Bursary 2012/13
• 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
• National University of Ireland Dr. H.H. Stewart Literary Scholarship Award in Irish 2009

Advisory work on other major projects:

• Steering Group member, Iveragh Woodlands European Innovation Project, 2026-30, EIP-AGRI (led by Hometree, Co. Clare, €1,764,696)
• Advisory Group member, Landscapes of Catastrophe: archaeology, social-ecological and biological contexts of the Great Irish Famine, 2026-29, UK Arts and Humanities Research Council Standard Grant (PI Patrick Gleeson QUB, £1,500,000)

Journal peer reviewing:
The Historical Journal // Norwegian Archaeological Review // Social History // International Journal of Historical Archaeology // Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology // Landscape Ecology // Cambridge Archaeological Review // Medieval Settlement Research // Rural History // Folk Life // Rural Landscapes // Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland // Post-Medieval Archaeology // Landscapes // Journal of Historical Geography // Proc of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland // Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports // Journal of Wetland Archaeology // ‘A Place for the Heathland?’ edited book

Journal editoral boards:
Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History

Grant peer reviewing:
National Science Foundation (USA) // European Research Council // Dutch Research Council (NWO) Vidi // Polish National Science Centre // Swiss National Science Foundation // Icelandic Research Fund // Czech Science Foundation // Austrian Academy of Sciences

Currently I teach a 5 ECTS case study for second-year history students called, Ireland in a New World: Climate Change and Capitalism, 1250-1750. This is one version of the 'omnibus' module, HI2105, which all second years in history have to take. I also teach a 5 ECTS module for first years called, HI1015: The Craft of History, using Ireland in the early modern period as a case study. This is an 'omnibus' module for all first years in history, with other members of staff teaching other versions of the module. In addition, I supervise undergraduate research projects.

Previously I co-designed and co-led the second-year core module, HI2108: Ireland, Europe and the Wider World I (with Dr David Edwards). This covered the crucial period from just before the Black Death up to the Enlightenment, with an emphasis on socio-economic change, colonialism and the process of globalisation.

Prior to joining UCC as Lecturer in Radical Humanities, I taught and supervised students in history and archaeology at Stockholm University, Uppsala University and University of Galway.