The RSAI runs an annual programme of lectures, talks, outings and excursions to which Members and Guests are invited to partake. Places on all outings and excursions must be booked in advance but lectures and talks are open to all. Lectures and talks usually take place at 7.30pm in the Helen Roe theatre, which is in the basement of Society House, 63 Merrion Square, unless otherwise indicated. They are also live-streamed via ZOOM Webinars. RSAI Members receive their free registration links via e-newsletter, non-members may book via our Eventbrite page (tickets €5).
The subjects of lectures and talks span all areas of the Society’s remit, history, archaeology, art history, local and social history. Excursions include day-trips and three/four day expert led tours.
If you have any suggestions for potential lectures or talks please forward this information to the Hon. General Secretary here for consideration by the Programme sub-committee.
Here are the details of upcoming events on the 2024 programme:
LECTURES
25 January 2024
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Jailbreak: Prisoner escapes and Crown security in Tudor Ireland
Dr David Edwards, UCC
22 February 2024
Lunulae and the Early Bronze Age in Atlantic Europe: some rediscoveries
Dr John Ó Néill, QUB
21 March 2024
ANNUAL PRÓINSÉAS NÍ CHATHÁIN MEMORIAL LECTURE
Brigit agus Cill Dara: bunús an scéil (Brigit and Kildare: the origins of their story)
Dr Edel Bhreathnach, Historian
25 April 2024
Ireland and the emergence of the global English Empire
Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú, TCD
30 May 2024
ANNUAL HELEN ROE MEMORIAL LECTURE
Writing and decorating books in late-medieval Gaelic Ireland
Dr Pádraig Ó Macháin, UCC
26 September 2024 (Online Only)
Clachan chronicles: an archaeological exploration of the Baker’s Flat Irish settlement in colonial South Australia
Susan Arthure, Flinders University, Australia
24 October 2024
ANNUAL FRANK MITCHELL MEMORIAL LECTURE
The Monastic Midlands – designing a sustainable community focused research project
Dr Stephen Mandal, Irish Archaeology Field School
21 November 2024
Symbolism on Statues and Sculptures of Dublin
Mr Neal Doherty, Historian
12 December 2023
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Engaging with Belief
Dr Kelly Fitzgerald, RSAI President, UCD
TALKS
12 February 2024
Social Fabric: gendered ‘improvement’ in Ascendancy portraiture
Dr Priscilla Sonnier, RSAI Executive Officer
4 March 2024
Becoming equestrian: new insights into the human-horse relationship from archaeology and ancient DNA
Dr Kate Kanne, UCD
8 April 2024
St Mary’s Abbey, Dublin; evidence from two archaeological excavations at Arran Street East and Capel Street
Ed Donovan, RSAI Member
13 May 2024
The Stonyford Roman Burial: New Research and Discoveries
Ms Aideen Ireland, Historian, RSAI Past-President and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, National Monuments Service
2 September 2024
30/30 A Personal Study of Glendalough
Adrian O’Carroll, Photographer
7 October 2024
A Photographic Career in Ruins, my 42 years as NMS Photographer
Mr Con Brogan, National Monuments Service
4 November 2024
New evidence for the Irish Palaeolithic from caves
Dr Ruth Carden, UCD
OUTINGS
Outing A, Archaeological tour of St Anne’s Mansion, Co. Dublin and St. Anne’s Follies:
Saturday, 2 March 2024. Mr James Kyle, MIAI and Mr Wayne Malone of Archaeology and Built Heritage will guide us through recent excavations at St Anne’s Mansion and share the history of some of the park’s follies.
Outing B, Tour of Custom House, Dublin:
Saturday, 5 October 2024. OPW Guide Team will lead RSAI members through the recent restorations of Custom House and share the evolution of the buildings history from the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries. Following the tour there will be a tea reception at Society House.
EXCURSIONS
Spring Excursion, Co. Leitrim: Saturday, 23 March 2024
Summer Excursion, Edinburgh, Scotland: 22-24 June 2024
Autumn Excursion, Kilkenny: Saturday, 21 September