Assoc ProfessorElva Johnston

I am a Late Antique and Early Medieval Irish historian with research interests in conversion, materiality, literacy, sanctity and sexuality. My monograph, Literacy and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland (2013), was awarded the prestigious Irish Historical Research Prize (2015). In addition, I have published numerous articles contributing to the fields of history, medieval studies and Celtic studies. I co-edited Peritia, Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland (2015-21) and am currently editor of Analecta Hibernica. I am a member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission.

I teach undergraduate modules on various aspects of Late Antique and Early Medieval history. I offer graduate teaching and supervision in these areas. I have supervised several PhD candidates and welcome graduates with interests in all aspects of Early Irish History and Insular Studies, particularly before the year c. 1000 CE. I also mentor postdoctoral scholars in these areas. In 2021 I was awarded an IRC Research Ally Prize in recognition of my support for doctoral students.


Completed Doctoral Supervisions

• Aoife Cranny Walsh, Historical Truth or Literary Embellishment? Uncovering the Voice of Historical Queens in Medieval Irish Sources (2022) 
• James Houlihan, Cáin Adomnáin and the Jurisprudence of Warfare (2019)
• Eoin Ó Donnchadha, Fotha Filed Foglaim, Dliged Dúaine Dúas: The Social Identity and Operation of the Early Irish Filid c. 600-1000 AD (2018)
• Claire Collins, Discovering Crom Dubh: Origins and Development (2017)
• Ann-Marie Long, The Relationship between Iceland and Norway, c. 870 – c. 1100: Memory, History and Identity (2014)
• Nathan Millin, The Resurrection of the Body: Theological Doctrine and Social Practice in Early Medieval Ireland (2013)
• Elaine Pereira Farrell, Taboos and Penitence: Christian Conversion and Popular Religiosity in Ireland (Centuries VI–VII) (2013)
• Elizabeth Dawson, Perceptions of Conversion in Seventh-Century Irish Hagiography (2012)
• Denis Hamon, From Paganism to Christianity: The Role of Acculturation in Medieval Irish Tradition (2011)