Deirdre Raftery

Deirdre Raftery is a Full Professor of the History of Education at University College Dublin (UCD), holding dual roles in the School of Education. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has held prestigious visiting fellowships at institutions including the University of Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses on 19th-century education, women’s roles in global education systems, and transnational histories of convent schooling. Raftery has authored or edited over a dozen books, including Irish Nuns and Education in the Anglophone World: A Transnational History (2024) and New Turns in the History of Education in Ireland (2023).

Education:

• B.A. in History, University College Dublin
• H.DipEd, Trinity College Dublin
• M.A. in History, University College Dublin
• Ph.D. in Education History, Trinity College Dublin

Research Interests: Her work examines convent schooling, gender dynamics in education, diaspora education networks, and digital humanities applications in historical research. She leads major projects like UCD ConventCollections and PinNACLE II, focusing on women’s educational leadership in the Global South.

Grants & Awards:

• CHWS Distinguished Historian Award (2019)
• Fulbright Scholar (2015-2016)
• Irish Research Council grants for projects like DiasporaEd and UCD ConventCollections

Teaching & Advising: She coordinates all history of education modules at UCD and supervises doctoral scholars researching topics ranging from nurse training to digital humanities. Her students have explored subjects like garda education history and multilingualism in Irish schools.

Labs & Collaborations: Leads the UCD ConventCollections initiative, digitizing archives of Irish convent schools. Collaborates with global institutions like La Trobe University (Australia) and Boston College (USA). Active in editorial roles for journals including History of Education.