Postgraduate Research

The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies has a thriving postgraduate community. The M.Litt. takes two years and requires a dissertation of not more than 60,000 words and the Ph.D. takes up to four years and the dissertation should not exceed 100,000 words.

Students can take coursework in Middle Eastern Languages including Classical and Modern Hebrew, Arabic and Turkish during their enrolment. Staff and postgraduate students participate in research methods seminars and regular graduate research seminars. We also provide students with opportunities to gain teaching experience. Through our international contacts, we run regular research seminars led by visiting scholars of international standing.

Click here to see recent and current theses being/written under the supervision by staff in the Department.

Resources For Research

i. Trinity College Dublin Library
Over the past few years we have built up the Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern collections in the Library holdings. The Library has always had a strong Hebrew Bible, Ancient Near East and Early Judaism collection, and in the past decade we have expanded our Jewish Studies holdings through philanthropic funding. The Islamic collection has also been significantly enhanced through funding from the Centre for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies. These provide excellent resources for research students. The Old Library has a wide-range of papyri and early printed books in related fields.

ii. Weingreen Museum of Biblical Antiquities
The holdings of the Weingreen Museum encompass the entire Mediterranean world from North Africa to Mesopotamia and from the ninth millennium B.C.E. to the Crusades (thirteenth century C.E.). With over 2,000 objects, the Museum is an important resource for teaching, research and outreach. Each year over 200 individuals visit the Museum and we welcome school groups and historical societies on a regular basis. The collection is used in the undergraduate modules and we run workshops on curatorial skills each year led by the curator and other contributors with museum experience. Throughout the academic year, undergraduate and postgraduate students have the opportunity to work as interns in the Museum where they contribute to the maintenance of the collection, arrange exhibitions and are currently undertaking a project to photograph each object for our digital catalogue.

iii. Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Religions and Culture
The Herzog Centre is the only Centre for the study of Jewish and Near Eastern Religions and Culture in Ireland and was established over a decade ago with philanthropic funding. The Centre supports activities related to Jewish and Near Eastern Studies such as academic conferences, annual public lecture series, and student study tours. Significant donations of books for research and teaching have also been received by the Herzog Centre. With collections on subjects as diverse as Near Eastern archaeology, Rabbinics and Holocaust Studies, the Centre provides a unique resource for students and academic staff.

In 2014, the Herzog Centre will host the annual conference of the British Association for Jewish Studies. This is the first time that Ireland has been the venue for this international conference.

iv. Centre for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies
The Centre for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies is a collaborative venture, which since its inception has involved two members of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies with the School of Classics.  Funded by the Irish Government's Centre for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), the Centre focuses on the cultural interchange in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds.

v. Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
The Chester Beatty Library has an extensive collection of Near Eastern, Egyptian and Islamic art, manuscripts and artifacts.

vi. Irish Jewish Museum
The Irish Jewish Museum is home to an important archive for Irish Jewish history.

vii. Marsh's Library

Marsh’s Library has a significant collection of Hebrew and Arabic books.