Expand+Applicants must be at least 18 years of age by 1 January of the year of application and demonstrate personal or professional interest in the related disciplinary fields. This may be demonstrated by a short statement accompanying the application to ex...

Hide-Applicants must be at least 18 years of age by 1 January of the year of application and demonstrate personal or professional interest in the related disciplinary fields. This may be demonstrated by a short statement accompanying the application to explain why the applicant would like to do the course.

English Language Requirement: All applicants whose first language is not English must have attained IELTS Level 6 or the equivalent TOEFL score.

Diploma programmes are offered subject to a minimum number of eligible applicants registering for the programme. Following completion of year 1 of this programme, should a sufficient number of eligible students not wish to progress form year 1 to year 2 of this programme as to make the year 2 viable, students will graduate with a certificate at that point. Programme viability is determined by reference to fee income and applicable costs in running the programme.

Expand+Overview
This course will develop skills for those interested in local and regional studies, integrating approaches used by archaeologists, folklorists, geographers and historians. You will study the information that can be gleaned from documents, m...

Hide-Overview
This course will develop skills for those interested in local and regional studies, integrating approaches used by archaeologists, folklorists, geographers and historians. You will study the information that can be gleaned from documents, maps, museum collections and field-monuments. A wide range of teaching methods are used including weekly lectures, workshops, tutorials and field trips. You will be encouraged to learn and research independently and to develop critical and analytical skills, which will support you when producing your original dissertation in year two. You will employ diverse research methods and methodologies and engage with primary and secondary sources. At the end of the course you will have learned to differentiate between the research methodologies employed by a range of disciplines that work under the unifying theme: the significance of locality and region as a basis for study.

The programme is normally taught one evening per week, with teaching and fieldtrips occurring on some Saturdays. Students will incur some minor costs for field trips in year one and accommodation and travel costs for the national field trip in year two.

Expand+- AD1051: Studying Folklore: The Sayings and Doings of Common People (10 credits)
Key aspects of folklore, its background, festivals, lifecycle, storytelling, popular religion and the otherworld, popular culture.
-AD1052: Historical Geogra...

Hide-- AD1051: Studying Folklore: The Sayings and Doings of Common People (10 credits)
Key aspects of folklore, its background, festivals, lifecycle, storytelling, popular religion and the otherworld, popular culture.
-AD1052: Historical Geography (5 credits)
This module will focus on the spatial aspects of Irish society since the early modern period. It will consider the role of place and landscape in the social and cultural transformations in Ireland over the past four hundred years by focusing on local case studies and situating them in their historical context.
-CC1801: Celtic Ireland (5 credits)
To present an overview of ancient Ireland's rich cultural history and traditions. Topics will include the early history of Ireland; early manuscript sources; pre-Christian gods and goddesses; heroic literature; early Irish poetry.
-HI1801: Aspects of Modern Irish History (10 credits)
The module acts as a foundation level course, introducing students to the broad developments of Irish history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Year 2 Modules:
- AD1031: Fieldwork in Genealogy (10 credits)
This module will engage students in fieldwork; the building blocks of genealogical practical research. Students will experience field work within both the urban and archival dimension and learn how to capture data through digital photography, mapping and the paper record.
-AD1050: An Introduction to Astronomy (5 credits)
Astronomical History - the Geocentric and Heliocentric models of the Solar System: Brahe, Kepler, Newton.
The Night Sky - the constellations, the pole star, the diurnal motion of the stars, the orbit of the Earth about the Sun, the seasons. Finding stars on the sky.
Time and calendars.
Astronomy and navigation. The Greenwich meridian.
Light - the electromagnetic spectrum: Reflecting and Refracting telescopes.
Telescope operation.
Different types of Astronomy. Astronomy from Space.
The distance to stars - parallax.
Angles, angular separation.
Small numbers, large numbers, powers-of-ten notation.
Looking back in time with astronomy.
The Solar System - planets, moons, comets, asteroids.
The Sun, eclipses.
Planets around other stars, the Habitable Zone.

Stars: distance, brightness, the magnitude system.
The colour and temperature of stars.
Stellar evolution - white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes.
The formation of the elements.
Galaxies and cosmology. Cepheids, the Doppler Shift and the expansion of the Universe.
Black holes in other galaxies.
Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the fate of the Universe.

-AD1872: The Physical Environment (10 credits)
Earth system, Geology (rock types, minerals), Palaeontology & Earth history, structural geology, geomorphology, geohazards. Practical work - recognition of rock samples, Field trip - Geology of the Burren.
-AD2864: Research Skills for Local and Regional Studies (5 credits)
This module introduces students to the skills and sources necessary to carry out original research in the area of local and / or regional studies.
- AD2865: Local and Regional Studies Research Project (15 credits)
Supervised, independent research on a topic agreed between student and supervisor. This may be an analytical or practice-based study. The work will apply the knowledge gained on course modules, and elsewhere, towards the research topic.
-AD2866: The Irish Medieval Church (5 credits)
This module will focus on the documentary history and physical heritage of the Church in Ireland between AD1000 and 1550. It will examine key events and themes, including monasticism, cathedral and parish churches, the twelfth-century reforms, religious art and architecture, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the Reformation . Local case studies will be used to explore the major themes by situating them in their national and international contexts.
-AD2867: An Introduction to Ireland's Marine Heritage and Wildlife (5 credits)
Key aspects of Ireland's marine heritage; human interaction with the ocean; marine ecosystems; marine wildlife; survey methods and marine mammal identification; marine pollution and conservation; and marine eco-tourism.
-AD2868: Local Food Studies: History, Tradition and Identity (5 credits)
Since the 1970s, the globalisation of food and food production systems has drawn attention to local, regional and national food products and food models. The contrast between 'local' and 'universal' food has also introduced what can be ambiguous and contested concepts of 'authenticity', 'tradition' and 'identity'. This module will explain and discuss the main historical movements and developments in Irish food and it will address the value of local food and local food production to the community, the environment, and industry, in particular the tourism industry.