Longford academic looking forward to working with inaugural Young Academy of Ireland

Longford's Dr Deirdre Flynn is among the inaugural membership of the newly founded Young Academy of Ireland (YAI). 

Dr Deirdre Flynn, who is from Killashee, is a lecturer in 21st-century literature at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and is among forty academics from across the island of Ireland to be inducted into the YAI and will serve a four-year term.

The Young Academy Ireland (YAI) is a new interdisciplinary organisation of early career researchers and innovators (ECRIs) and brings together individuals who will work collaboratively for the benefit of society.

Young Academies provide a multidisciplinary platform that allows their members to exchange diverse views and experiences, to contribute effectively to the development of all-island research and cultural life, to ensure that ECRIs are adequately represented and actively participate in discussions that address global issues. The YAI is an initiative of the Royal Academy of Ireland.

Speaking as it was announced that she was among the inaugural intake, Dr Flynn said: "I am delighted to have been selected as a member of the inaugural Young Academy of Ireland. This Royal Academy of Ireland initiative is part of a global network, and I am excited to be able to contribute to this forum."

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Dr Flynn added, "I look forward to working collaboratively with members on key issues in Higher Education and society, and in particular addressing issues like academic precarity."

The YAI will focus on a broad range of programmes to promote multidisciplinary experiences; develop networks, provide mentoring and peer support, engage in policy debate, respond to societal challenges and foster international and interdisciplinary collaboration.

This new Academy will also engage in outreach activities, help to improve public understanding of how research works and contributes to societal benefits and strengthen high level skills among early career researchers and innovators.  

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Dr Deirdre Flynn has published widely on Precarity, Contemporary literature, Irish Studies, Haruki Murakami, Migration, and Literary Urban studies.

Her newest co-edited collection, Austerity and Irish women's writing and culture 1980 - 2020 with Dr Ciara Murphy has just been published with Routledge.

She co-edited two collections on Irish Literature with Palgrave Macmillan: Irish Urban Fictions and Representations of Loss in Irish Literature. Deirdre is the secretary of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) and edits the Irish Women’s Writing Network blog.

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She has worked in University of Galway (formerly NUIG), University of Limerick and University College Dublin where she received an award for Teaching Excellence.

She coordinates the MA in Modern English Literature at Mary Immaculate College.