RDS Library Speaker Series

The RDS Library Speaker Series promotes the sharing of knowledge by hosting speakers whose presentations are reflective of the Foundation work of the Society, featuring a range of topics which include Irish culture and heritage.

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‘Eating Like Irishmen’: Promoting Irish Agriculture and Nineteenth-century Science at the RDS

Dr Mary Hatfield is the recipient of the RDS Library & Archives Research Bursary for 2020.

Delving into the RDS Archives to explore how the science of food and diet changed across the nineteenth century, a key early period in what we now term ‘food science’. Dr Hatfield’s research of the RDS collections is used to understand how innovations in chemistry and agricultural debates shaped views on agricultural production, nutrition, and food. The lecture also considers the role of the RDS as an educational institution. Drawing on material from the RDS Industry and Enterprise Archive on manufacturing exhibitions and the RDS lecture series, to consider what themes dominated the imagination of early food science and how these ideas were presented to the Irish public. 

RDS Library Speaker Series: Look! It’s a Woman Writer

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is editor of the recently published book Look! It’s a Woman Writer! Here she joins in conversation with novelists Catherine Dunne and Nuala O’Connor, to reflect on some of the struggles that Irish women writers in mid twentieth century Ireland had to overcome to have their literary work accepted and published and without which the success, enjoyed by Irish women writers today could not have been realised.

The First Irish Cities and their legacy

Professor David Dickson brings insights into the rise and development of some Irish Cities as they emerged and transformed Ireland, through their physical, social and cultural developments. Professor Dickson has written extensively on the subject in his 2021 published book, The First Irish Cities An Eighteenth-Century Transformation.

From the Grand Canal to the Dodder - Author Beatrice Doran in conversation with Valerie Cox

RDS member Dr Beatrice Doran gives an insight to some of the lives of the interesting and noteworthy residents of the Dublin suburbs that feature in her latest book From the Grand Canal to the Dodder: Illustrious Lives. In this presentation she is joined by Valerie Cox as they discuss Beatrice’s interests and how the book itself had its genesis as a result of earlier works, she has written. This presentation mentions some residents of the greater Dublin 4 area which was in the past, and continues to be, home to poets, writers, artists, politicians and academics, all of whom in their own way, contributed to Irish life.

Eight Days A Week: Developing as a Writer in The Real World with Donal Ryan and Rónán Hession

For more information on One Dublin One Book visit www.onedublinonebook.ie
 

RDS Library Speaker Series - Enzo Farinella; the land of saints and scholars

The Land of Saints & Scholars: the cultural contribution of Irish monks and religious scholars to continental Europe is well established. Italian writer Enzo Farinella guides us through a brief history of important legacy. The RDS Library Speaker Series broadens horizons with an eclectic mix of speakers reflective of the RDS Foundation work programme, as well as experts and researchers who contribute to the national conversation, interpreting Ireland’s heritage.