Samuel Beckton
2023
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| Bio | An early career historian of Modern Irish History. I have an MPhil in International Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin, an MPhil in Politics from Queen’s University Belfast, and undertook a Department of Education PhD scholarship in History from Ulster University. On 30 September 2022, I spoke in the Seanad Éireann after submitting my research as evidence to the Public Consultation on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland Committee. |
| Areas of expertise | -Border county Protestant history since 1910 -The international anti-Irish Home Rule movements, 1886-1914 -Irish diaspora in the British Empire and the United States in the early twentieth century -Southern Unionism & Loyalism, from 1910 onwards -Southern Protestantism since the nineteenth century -Irish revolutionary period, 1916 to 1923 |
| Keywords | Identity; Culture; Unionism; Religion; Protestantism; Empire; Politics; Commonwealth; Partition. |
| Nickname | Samuel Beckton |
| Membership Type | Professional Historian |
| Education | Ulster University September, 2019 – July, 2023 PhD in History
June 2021 Associate Fellowship of the HEA, Fellowship reference: PR222222
Queens University Belfast September, 2017 – September, 2019 Pass (67%) graded MPhil in Politics
Trinity College Dublin September, 2015 – August, 2016 Pass (68%) graded MPhil in International Peace Studies
University of Hull 2:1 graded Bachelor (Hons) degree in Politics and International Relations |
| Employment | BSO Encompass, Belfast 15 April, 2024 – Ongoing Credentialed Trainer I am a credentialed trainer that is helping to teach the encompass software system to medical staff in hospitals across the NHS in Northern Ireland, and have taught within the Belfast and South Eastern Trusts.
Newtowncunningham Community Outreach Project, Newtowncunningham 1 March 2019-1 June 2024 Project Historian (Part-time) The NCOP is an East Donegal peacebuilding project. In 23 October 2019, I organised and spoke at an exhibition, sponsored by the Donegal County Council with €1,000 under the Decade of Centenaries Grants Scheme, on the centenary of the 1920 local elections in Donegal. I also organised an exhibition on the history of the Newtowncunningham Orange Order, and assisted another on the history of the Magee Campus, Ulster University. Besides exhibitions, I submitted evidence to the Public Consultation on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland Committee and spoke in the Seanad Éireann 30 September 2022. I was also invited to one of the Irish presidents Machnamh 100 seminars in 2022, but was unable to attend.
PwC UK, Belfast 1 June, 2022 – 12 April, 2024 A2 Associate Analyst in Business Operations I undertook in depth risk analysis research on clients wishing to PwC contract services. I liaisoned with engagement teams to ensure all checks have been carried out, and draft engagement letters.
Ulster University, Coleraine 1 January – 1 November, 2023 Module convener/Research Assistant From January to June, I ran a Master’s module ‘HIS700: The Historian’s Craft 1: Finding and Using Primary Sources’ in semester 2, teaching, undertaking assessments and grading, including HIS129, ‘Irish Government and Politics since 1922’.
From June, I wrote a report reviewing youth engagement and experience of the NI Justice system and PSNI with Dr Conor Murray and Dr Brendan Coyle. Also, I researched the history of Donegal workers to Scotland. I am in the process of writing a book with Dr Adrian Grant concerning this topic, funded by the Donegal County Council.
1 September, 2019 – 1 June, 2022 PhD Researcher (Scholarship) & Teaching Assistant for a semester I obtained a Department of Education (NI) Studentship to pursue a History PhD. Whilst at Ulster University, I organised an academic conference called ‘Commemorations: Then, Now, & To Come An Irish Studies, Conference of the Decade of Centenaries’. I was also a Teaching Assistant for the undergraduate history module HIS141, “Ireland, 1798-1998: Union and Disunion.”
QUB Research & Enterprise, Belfast 5 November, 2018 – 4 April, 2019 Research Assistant Researching grants and funding opportunities for Queen’s University Belfast, highlighting them for each department at the university and coordinating with Research and Enterprise.
Queen’s University Belfast Student Union 1 October 2017 – 1 October 2018 Postgraduate Research Officer I represented the concerns of the Postgraduate Research community on the Student Union Council and at the Executive Council meetings, work with the graduate school to try to liaison opportunities ideas to improve the experience of PGR students at QUB, and talk with PGR students services offered by the Student Union.
Holocaust Educational Trust, Yorkshire and the Humberside 3 April, 2017 – 1 April, 2018 Regional Ambassador I helped to organise events/workshops to raise Holocaust awareness, my experience of Auschwitz and Yad Vashem, gave survivors a chance to share their testimonies. I fundraised and coordinated volunteers within Yorkshire to further the cause.
Human Appeal Ireland, Dublin 4 April – 29 October, 2016 Intern I wrote risk assessment reports for Arsal, Beirut, Damascus and Gaziantep. I also wrote activity reports and produced funding packs. I designed and helped distribute a nationwide survey across the Republic of Ireland. From 1 September to 29 October, I underwent an online Internship with Human Appeal Turkey to develop a master six months’ work plan for the organisation, writing a funding proposal for the European Commission: ‘No Lost Generation in Syria: education and resilience for children and youth’.
Minority Rights Organization, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 16 March – 7 June, 2015 Human Rights investigator I wrote field reports, blogs, edited documents, grant and funding applications, such as the Tiet Foundation and Norwegian Human Rights Fund. I investigated issues of Human Rights abuse affecting Khmer Krom and ethnic Vietnamese communities on research trips in Phnom Penh and to the Pursat, Takeo, Koh Kong and Kammpong Chhnang provinces. Also, I assisted an ‘Empowerment of Khmer Krom Women to Political Participation and Gender Equality’ workshop.
Inter-Cultural Youth Exchange, Bogota, Colombia 6 October, 2014 – 26 January, 2015 Project Volunteer I worked with conflict victims in Bogota in three places. Firstly, at a school in San Mateo teaching English for the first 2 months; secondly, at Nuevos Horizontes in San Mateo, I talked to victims and raised funds at the shelter. Lastly, at Unidad de Attencion y Orientacion al Desplazado in Soacha, I offered advice to victims, registered displaced people to receive aid, gave food aid, and inspected homes. I did some part-time teaching at a minor drug rehab charity in Bogota as well.
Balloon Kenya, Kericho 8 August – 21 September, 2014 Balloon Fellow I taught finance/business ethics to local entrepreneurs, created loan pitch documents, photography, conducted customer interviews, and price comparison research for supplies and rent rates.
Westminster Hull Internship Program (WHIP), London 2 September – 1 December, 2013 Intern I handled mail, wrote letters to Ministers and constituents, answered telephone calls, researched issues and attended select committee meetings for Caroline Nokes, MP. I also wrote a 5,000-word report of the impact of Scottish independence. |
| Consultancy work | Collaborating with professors at Ulster University, I have engaged in research projects that are anticipated to be published later this year. Notably, I conducted a comprehensive report on youth engagement and their experiences within the Northern Ireland Justice system and PSNI, in collaboration with Dr. Conor Murray and Dr. Brendan Coyle. Additionally, I am co-authoring a book with Dr. Adrian Grant on the history of Donegal migratory workers to Scotland. This project is being generously funded by the Donegal County Council. |
| Management & Administrative experience | At Ulster University, from January to June 2023, I was a module convener for a Master’s module ‘HIS700: The Historian’s Craft 1: Finding and Using Primary Sources’ in semester 2. I will be a module convener for HIS700 again from January to June 2025, along with ‘HIS703: The Historian’s Craft 2: Reading and Writing about the Past’. In addition, From January 2022, I headed a conference committee at Ulster University to organise and run an Irish Studies conference to commemorate the Decade of Centenaries. This was held on 23 June 2022: ‘Commemorations: Then, Now, and To Come’: An Irish Studies Conference of the Decade of Centenaries. Participants came from Ireland, Great Britain, Europe, and made up five panels with 16 presenters with 48 non-presenters in attendance. There was two guest speakers as well, Kyle Hughes from Ulster University and Dr Gavin Foster from Concordia University.
Prior to then, I was a Postgraduate Research Officer for the Student Union at Queen’s University Belfast, from 1 October 2017 to 1 OCtober 2018. I represented the concerns of the Postgraduate Research community on the Student Union Council and at the Executive Council meetings, work with the graduate school to try to liaison opportunities ideas to improve the experience of PGR students at QUB, and talk with PGR students services offered by the Student Union.
Outside of Academia, I was a Regional Ambassador with the Holocaust Educational Trust, with the Yorkshire and the Humberside region from 3 April, 2017 – 1 April, 2018. I helped to organise events/workshops to raise Holocaust awareness, my experience of Auschwitz and Yad Vashem, gave survivors a chance to share their testimonies. I fundraised and coordinated volunteers within Yorkshire to further the cause. |
| Teaching | BSO Encompass, Belfast 15 April, 2024 – Ongoing I am a credentialed trainer that is helping to teach the encompass software system to medical staff in hospitals across the NHS in Northern Ireland, and have taught within the Belfast and South Eastern Trusts.
Ulster University January – June, 2023 I was a module convener a Master’s module ‘HIS700: The Historian’s Craft 1: Finding and Using Primary Sources’ in semester 2, teaching, undertaking assessments and grading, including HIS129, ‘Irish Government and Politics since 1922’.
January – May, 2021 I was a Teaching Assistant for the undergraduate history module HIS141, “Ireland, 1798-1998: Union and Disunion.”
Queen’s University Belfast Senior Academy January, 2019 – March, 2020 I tutored A2 Level students in Business Studies and Religious Education at Malone Integrated College, Belfast Boys’ Model School, and Ashfield Boys’ High School located in Belfast. |
| Outreach activities | In my youth, I was involved in youth empowerment and educational ambassador institutions, these included: – Member of the Leeds Youth Council, October 2008 to July 2010 -Member of the UK Youth Parliament, October 2008 to July 2010 -Representative for the Yorkshire and Humberside on the Auschwitz Project, 2009 to 2010 |
| Committees & Associations | Memberships
Royal Historical Society Archives & Records Association Irish Museum Association |
| Awards | Department of Education (NI) PhD Research Studentship, 2019-2022
Findlater Award in Social Sciences at Ulster University, 2022
Broaden Horizons Travel Bursary at Ulster University, 2019 |
| Other activities | I have had the privilege of presenting my research at esteemed academic conferences in Ireland, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. Notably, I took a leadership role in organising an Irish Studies conference at Ulster University on June 23, 2022, to commemorate Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries. My research was given as evidence to the Public Consultation on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland Committee and I spoke in the Seanad Éireann on 30 September 2022 I was also invited to one of the Irish presidents Machnamh 100 seminars in 2022, but was unable to attend.
List of conferences: 2024 • American Conference for Irish Studies, Limerick
2023 • SOFEIR Conference, Online
2022 • American Conference of Irish Studies • The Irish Civil War: National Conference, University College Cork
2021 • Digitising Ireland: Irish Studies PGR Symposium 2021, online • 2021 Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference, online
2020 • 70th Annual Irish History Students’ Association, University College Dublin
Invited to present, but cancelled due to Covid pandemic: • Global Irish Diaspora Congress, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa • North Atlantic Worlds, Newfoundland, Canada
2018 • 2nd Annual North American Graduate Conference in Irish Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada • 23rd Australasian Conference in Irish Studies, University of Sydney, Australia
2016 • The Postgraduate Research Showcase, Trinity College Dublin |
| Books | The East Donegal Unionist Border Petition and the Derry-Donegal Milk War, 1934-8 Four Courts Press, 2023 |
| Book Chapters | N/A |
| Peer Reviewed Journals | • No Surrender from down under: The Australian Anti‐Irish Home Rule Movement, 1911–14 Australian Journal of Politics & History, 2024
• Ulster’s friends at home and abroad: The Belfast Weekly News international contribution lists to the Ulster Defence Fund, 1913 to 1914 Archivium Hibernicum, LXXVI, 2023
• The Spirit of Ulster in the Cape of Good Hope: The South African anti-Irish Home Rule movement, 1910 to 1914 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02582473.2023.2217480 |
| Other Journals | N/A |
| Electronic Publications | ORCID: |
| Reviews | N/A |
| Other | The clash of the clans in the British divorce: Would Scotland have been partitioned if it voted in favour of independence in 2014?
Research paper for the Political Studies Association Conference, Cardiff, 2017 |
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