Mark McGowan (University of Toronto)

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Mark McGowan is a Professor of History and Celtic Studies at the University of Toronto. His recent research has been concerned with the North American fate of the 1490 tenants from 273 families who left the Mahon estate in Co. Roscommon during the Great Irish Famine in 1847, as well as the fate of the orphans within the greater migration to Quebec of that year. In 2022 he co-edited Hunger and Hope: The Irish Famine Migration from Strokestown, Roscommon, in 1847 with Jason King and Christine Kinealy. Mark is renowned for his work on the Catholic Church in Canada, the response of Canada’s Irish Catholics to the Great War, and Ireland’s Great Hunger, including the lasting impact of the famine’s mass migration on Canada. He has also won multiple awards for his teaching and writing.

Maureen O'Connor (University College Cork)

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Maureen O’Connor lectures in the School of English and Digital Humanities in University College Cork. She previously taught in a number of undergraduate programmes in southern California, including Loyola Marymount University, Scripps College, and Pitzer College, and before coming to UCC, she was a lecturer in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. Maureen’s focus is women's writing and ecofeminist analysis, and her books include The Female and the Species: The Animal in Irish Women's Writing (2010) and Edna O'Brien and the Art of Fiction (2021). She has also edited Back to the Future of Irish Studies (2010) and co-edited Ireland and India: Colonies, Culture, and Empire (2006) with Tadhg Foley, amongst other works.