Dr. Gisela Holfter
Currently On sabbatical
Responsibilities
- Senior Lecturer in German
- Course Director: MA in Irish German Studies
- Joint Director, Centre for Irish-German Studies, since 1997
Academic Background
- MA (Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA) 1992
- PhD (Universität Köln, Köln, Germany) 1995
- Assistant teacher at four schools, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1988/89
- Teaching a wide variety of short and medium-term language courses at institutions in Cologne (Deutsche Welle, Fortbildungsakademie der Wirtschaft, Carl-Duisberg-Colleg) 1992-96
- Part time Lecturer Universität Köln, Germany, Spring 1994 and 1995
- Lektor, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand 1995
- Since 1996 at the University of Limerick. Starting as Assistant Lecturer in German, Department of Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Limerick, 1999 promoted to Lecturer in German, 2003 promoted to Senior Lecturer in German
Research Interests
- German-Irish relations
- German literature
- Exile Studies
Teaching Interests
- German literature 19th-21st century
- Comparative & English Literature
- Business German
- German area studies
- Intercultural relations, specifically German-Irish
- Masterclasses for postgraduate students
Selected Awards
- Martin Miller and Hannah Norbert-Miller Fellowship in Exile Studies 2011(April-June, Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London School of Advanced Study)
- Kuratoriumsaward 2010 Irish-German Chamber of Commerce (with Business German in Ireland Working Group)
- Shortlisted for European Award for Languages with Projects in Business German in 2008
- Heinrich Böll Foundation PhD scholarship, 1993-1995
- Research Grant for Senior Academics, DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service, autumn 2000 & 2004
- Intercultural competence for Irish exchange students in Germany, Royal Irish Academy, 2002- 2003 (project leader, with Dr C. O’Reilly and Prof A. Thomas, Regensburg)
- Exiles in Ireland – German-speaking refugees in Ireland in the 30s and 40s, IRCHSS project grant, 2002-2004 (project leader, with H. Rasche)
- Royal Irish Academy and Austrian Academy of Science exchange scheme, spring 2006
Writer-in-Residence, Heinrich Böll Cottage, Achill, summer 2006 - Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Research fellow 2006/2007
PhD Research Supervision
Claire O’Reilly, PhD (1997-2001), The Expatriate Life: A Study of German Expatriates and Their Spouses on Assignment in Ireland and the Development of Culture Training and Expatriate Support Based on Their Adjustment Experiences.
(first PhD in German in the University of Limerick; Dr O’Reilly then obtained a Junior Professorship for Intercultural Training at Technische Universität Chemnitz, Germany, for three years and is now Lecturer in German in UCC)
Thorsten M. Päplow, PhD “Heinrich Bölls ‘Irisches Tagebuch’”, Göteborgs Universitet (jointly supervised with Prof Edgar Platen, University of Göteborg, Sweden) (2004-2007)
Siobhan O’Connor, PhD “Policy and Public Opinion towards the German-speaking Exiles in Ireland” (2003-2009, spent one year on maternity leave)
Current Postgraduate Students
Birte Schulz, PhD “Questions of identity for German-speaking exiles in Ireland”, IRCHSS scholarship holder
Claudia Reese, PhD “Multicultural identity in contemporary Irish writing” (joint supervision with Dr Tina O’Toole, LCS), LCS scholarship holder, since 2007
Alice Mazurek, PhD “Who drums through Grass’s Peeling the Onion – Grass’s The Tin Drum as the subtext of Peeling the Onion and a comparison of the national and international reception of the texts”, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences scholarship holder, since 2008
Martti Steinke, PhD “German-speaking exiles in Northern Ireland”, IRCHSS scholarship holder, since autumn 2009
Appointments as External Examiner
External Examiner at Trinity College Dublin, 2004/5 – 2006/7
External Examiner at Queen’s University Belfast, 2005/2006 – 2007/8
External Examiner for PhDs
NUI Galway, December 2005
University of Portsmouth, June 2006
Dublin City University, June 2009