Dr Allan Blackstock (Reader in History, University of Ulster)
Allan Blackstock was born in Belfast where, after a working in industry, he entered third level education as a mature student. After graduation, he worked for a period as an archivist in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and has also provided historical consultancy for various museums. He taught at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in the School of Modern History and the Institute of Irish Studies before joining the University of Ulster in 2002 where, in addition to conventional teaching, he has been involved in developing e-learning programmes in Irish Cultural Heritages. He was promoted to Reader in Irish Cultural Heritages in 2005. In 2001 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 2006 to the editorial board of the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies.
He graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in English and Modern History at QUB in 1988 where he also completed his PhD in 1993 and gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education in 1995. He also attained an Adult and Further Education Teacher’s Certificate at the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education in 1990. In 2005 he gained a certificate in e-tutoring. He is the author of An Ascendancy Army: The Irish Yeomanry, 1796-1834 (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 1998) and Double Traitors: the Belfast Volunteers and Yeomen, 1778-1828 (Belfast, 2000), as well as numerous scholarly articles.
Dr William Roulston (Research Director, Ulster Historical Foundation)
William is a native of Bready, County Tyrone and graduated in History from the University of Ulster in 1994. He carried out the research for his PhD in the School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queen’s University, Belfast, and was awarded his doctorate in 2003. He joined the staff of the Ulster Historical Foundation in 1997 as a researcher. In 2006 he was appointed Research Director in succession to Dr Brian Trainor.
He is the author of a number of books, including Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors (2005), Restoration Strabane, 1660-1714 (2007) and (co-edited with Eileen Murphy) Fermanagh: History and Society (2004), as well other contributions to journals and academic history books. He has lectured widely on history and genealogy in the United States, Britain and Ireland. He has also worked with the BBC on radio and television programmes relating to local and family history. He is a Member of Council of both the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland and the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Gillian Hunt (Research Assistant, Ulster Historical Foundation)
Gillian Hunt is research assistant with the Ulster Historical Foundation. She was previously The Woodland Trust’s research officer, working on their ancient woodland inventory project. In addition she has worked with the Ulster Historical Foundation as a genealogical researcher since 2001. She regularly runs classes and gives talks on family history as well as visiting the USA to promote family history at events such as the recent ‘Experience Northern Ireland’ exhibition in New York.
Dr Brian Trainor (retired Research Director, Ulster Historical Foundation)
Brian retired as Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation in 2006, but remains actively involved with Ulster Historical Foundation. He was educated at Queen’s University, Belfast, and from there went for a time to the Institute of Historical Research in London. He returned to Belfast where he lectured for several years at Queen’s before becoming in 1956 an archivist in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
He was Director of the Public Record Office from 1970 to 1987 when he became Director and then Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the National University of Ireland.
Dr Brian Lambkin (Director, Centre for Migration Studies)
Brian Lambkin graduated from Cambridge University in 1975 and then trained as a teacher at Queen’s University, Belfast. He taught at Rathmore Grammar School, Belfastuntil 1981 when he joined Lagan College as a founder teacher with responsibility for History and Religious Education. He became Vice-Principal in 1987 and Principal in 1993. In 1998 he became the first director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster-American Folk Park, Omagh. He and his colleague Dr Patrick Fitzgerald (below) are the authors of Migration in Irish History, 1607-2007 (2008).
Dr Patrick Fitzgerald (Lecturer and Development Officer, Centre for Migration Studies)
Patrick Fitzgerald was educated at Queen’s University Belfast. A former curator at the Ulster-American Folk Park he has been teaching a QUB Masters in Irish Migration Studies since 1996. Patrick Fitzgerald has an overarching interest in all aspects of human migration relating to Ireland from 1600 to the present. Particular interests include Poverty and subsistence migration, Irish migration to Britain (1600-1800), British migration to Ireland (1600-1900), visual representations of historic Irish migration and Ulster historiography. He and his colleague Dr Brian Lambkin (above) are the authors of Migration in Irish History, 1607-2007 (2008).
