Three people from Donegal have secured prestigious Fulbright Scholarships to study and carry out research in the US.
Dr James Britton, Dr Ailbhe Nic Giolla Chomhaill and Shauna Ní Dhochartaigh are among the 37 Fulbright Irish Awardees for 2023-2024. Each awardee will attend a leading U.S. institution to research, study, teach and collaborate with experts in their fields from August 2023 to August 2024. The scholarship winners were presented with Awards at a ceremony in the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence last night.
Dr James Britton is an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the College of Medicine, University of Galway. As a Fulbright-NUI Scholar at the Chalasani Lab, Salk Institute, California, James will investigate the use of Sonogenetics, to modulate the electrical firing of neurons and how this technique can be used to treat neurological conditions.
Dr Ailbhe Nic Giolla Chomhaill is a lecturer in Irish in the School of English, Irish, and Communication at the University of Limerick. As a Fulbright Irish Scholar based at Indiana University, her research project will analyse Irish and Gaelic language folktales narrated by female storytellers from Ireland and Scotland during the 20th century.
Shauna Ní Dhochartaigh is a Gaeilge and History student at the University of Galway. A native of Rann na Feirste, in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht, she is a native Irish speaker. She will be a Fulbright FLTA at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Awardees will travel to 17 states across the USA embedding themselves in institutions ranging from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Poets House New York and The University of Hawaii to The Smithsonian Institution in Washington and East Los Angeles College, the largest community college in California. Fulbright Irish Scholars, Students, and Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) will also engage with U.S. society and share their knowledge and expertise when they return home.
