EFACIS offers (post-)graduate students the option to apply for a Werner Huber grant for the following EFACIS events: 

Per event two Werner Huber grants will be awarded. 

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Have a look at what former grantees have to say about the Werner Huber grant. 

  • "With the kind contribution from the Werner Huber grant, I was able to present at the 2025 EFACIS conference in Åbo / Turku. My first EFACIS conference – which conveniently was themed on the same topic as my thesis (thank you organisers) – was a truly fantastic experience. The chance to meet researchers at a range of career stages and discuss not only our research, but the realities of academic life was invaluable. The ranging topics of the keynotes as well as the panel sessions provided an insight into the incredible breadth of research being undertaken by EFACIS scholars. I left Turku inspired with new ideas and methods to approach my PhD, new friends and colleagues, and an eagerness to attend the next EFACIs event. 

    Thank you to the team responsible for organising such a great conference, from the formal to the informal (which spread into coffee breaks, lunches, dinners, boat rides, and poetry readings), your hard work doesn't go unnoticed. 

    And a huge thank you to the EFACIS board for their awarding me this grant: the unrelenting kindness I was shown speaks wonders about the community you foster."                                                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                               – Hannah Armour, PhD candidate at the University of Stuttgart

  • "Participating in the 2025 EFACIS Conference “Attending to Ireland”, held in the beautiful city of Turku, Finland, was an extremely enriching and memorable experience, both on an academic and personal level. I had the opportunity to present my paper, “Framing Military Resistance: The Press and the Irish Home Rule Crisis”, which investigates the attention given by the press to the early development of paramilitarism in Ireland and explores the subtle transition between legality and illegality during the initial years of the Home Rule Crisis.

    The conference was a truly stimulating environment, bringing together an impressive range of scholars from across the continent and beyond. Presenting my work in front of such an engaged and knowledgeable audience allowed me to receive constructive and insightful feedback that will undoubtedly contribute to the further development of my research. It was particularly valuable to engage in dialogue with researchers working on similar themes from different methodological and disciplinary perspectives.

    As a PhD student based in Italy, working on Irish history from outside the Irish academic context, it was especially important for me to connect with other international researchers – many of whom are also studying Ireland from a transnational or comparative viewpoint. These encounters helped me broaden my perspective and think more deeply about the position of my work within the wider field of Irish Studies.

    I am deeply grateful to the local organisers in Turku for their warm hospitality and excellent coordination of the event, which made the conference such a welcoming and intellectually vibrant experience. I would also like to sincerely thank EFACIS for awarding me the Werner Huber Grant, which made it possible for me to attend. Their generous support not only allowed me to participate in this important conference, but also helped foster invaluable academic exchanges and new connections that will have a lasting impact on my research journey.

    I strongly encourage other PhD candidates and early career researchers working on Irish topics to take an active role in the EFACIS network. Participating in EFACIS events and applying for grants such as the Werner Huber Award can open incredible opportunities for academic growth, dialogue, and collaboration within a truly international community of scholars dedicated to Irish Studies."

                                                                                                                                                                                  – Luca Bertolani Azeredo, PhD Candidate at Scuola Speriore Meridionale, Italy

  • "I am very grateful to EFACIS to have been awarded a Werner Huber grant in 2023. Indeed, for my first time at EFACIS, I had been selected to give a paper on the Republican women of the Northern Irish conflict on Friday 25 August, but I also wanted to be able to assist to other wonderful panels and keynotes.

    Thanks to the grant, I was able to stay for the whole conference, listening and taking notes on various interesting topics, and sharing ideas and questions with panelists, as well as be present at the conference dinner, where I met some of the nicest and most fascinating scholars and academics on “the Irish question.” I was also lucky enough to meet the greatest team of PhD students and never felt like I was on my own in Belfast!

    Therefore, I would like to thank the EFACIS team for organizing such a great conference and for awarding me a Werner Huber grant."

    — Elisa Helal-Brenner, third-year PhD candidate in Irish Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris.

  • "The Werner Huber grant kindly offered by EFACIS enabled me to participate in the 2023 EFACIS conference ‘Unions and Partitions’ at Queen’s University Belfast, my first in-person EFACIS conference. Due to the financial support, I got to experience a beautiful few days on campus, where I could immerse myself fully in the EFACIS community. Usually, I divide my time between my research and a non-academic part-time job, which is why it is especially nice to be able to focus on academic life completely for once, without having to worry about the financial aspect.

    The key element to any successful conference experience is the opportunity to network with renowned scholars in your field and with your peers. EFACIS and the conference team made sure to connect PhD students not only by offering free lunches – a very generous and welcome bonus – but also facilitating a PhD social event. Furthermore, the community proved to be welcoming to newcomers. Indeed, many panels featured a mixture of emerging and established scholars, all of which were kind and supportive of each other. This allowed me, in my own paper, to test out some ideas for my PhD thesis on recent Irish female-authored novels and gather insightful feedback.

    An added bonus to the experience were the variety of cultural events surrounding the conference, including a visit to the Ulster Museum, a welcome reception at Belfast City Hall and a walking tour through the city.

    Finally, I appreciated the chance to partake in the Annual General Meeting, as I could exercise my right to vote for the EFACIS board and learn more about how the organisation works behind the scenes.

    Overall, I am grateful to EFACIS for the opportunity to participate in such a brilliant conference and hope to be able to re-connect with many EFACIS members at the next conference in 2025."

     – Nathalie Lamprecht, PhD Candidate at Charles University Prague
     

  • I recently presented at EFACIS’s International Postgraduate Conference in Irish Studies at Charles University, Prague. Our conference organisers exceeded expectations, facilitating a convivial gathering, and vibrant exchange of knowledge. This event took a novel approach to the panel sessions; participants were given a fellow panellist’s paper ahead of time, and tasked with providing a five-minute, in-depth response before opening questions to the wider audience. This collaborative model allowed participants to receive compliments, constructive feedback, and suggestions in a respectful, genial, and lively environment.

    Having attended the 7th EFACIS PhD seminar in Irish Studies in Leuven a year prior, I was delighted to encounter many familiar and new faces at this event. Through my EFACIS membership and participation, I have developed a transnational academic community, and engaged with burgeoning state of the art in Irish Studies from across the globe.

    My sincere gratitude to EFACIS for awarding me the Werner Huber grant to attend this conference. It is amazing to be supported and endorsed by this renowned organisation, that provides such great networking, dissemination, and learning opportunities for PhD and early career researchers.

  • - Lauren Cassidy, PhD Candidate at University College Dublin

  • On the 22nd and 23rd of September, the sixth EFACIS Postgraduate conference, titled ‘Reading Ireland in the 21st century’ took place in Prague. The contributions by postgraduate students from a wide range of backgrounds, stretching from China to the United States, did justice to this title in discussing a wide range of topics, ranging from the (in)translatability of Irish language poetry, trauma and intimacy to a wide range of ways in which Ireland’s past influences Ireland’s present. The complex legacy of violence, representations of the Traveller minority and anti-traveller sentiment in Irish literature, as well as the transformation of Ireland’s society in an increasingly diverse and multi-ethnic context were just some of the themes that were addressed over the course of two eventful days.

    The conference was a unique opportunity thanks to its relatively small scope and reduced format without any parallel sessions. As every panel took place in a plenary session, this format encouraged engagement and exchange between disciplines rather than separating conference participants into often static sub-discipline groups. For postgraduate students in particular, this is a very beneficial experience. Perhaps most decisively, the EFACIS postgraduate format made the bold choice to reinterpret the format of the keynote. Instead of a lecture by an established academic, this space was used to provide career advice, but also to discuss concerns and anxieties that trouble postgraduate students.

    I would like to thank EFACIS for the generous Werner Huber grant, which facilitated my participation in the conference, all participants for their helpful and supportive feedback, and especially the local team in Prague for organising such a wonderful and memorable event. This is truly a conference like no other, and I look forward to returning for next year’s event in Leuwen!

    Go raibh míle maith agaibh!

  • - Constantin Torve, PhD Candidate at Queen's University Belfast

  • The Werner Huber Grant offered by EFACIS allowed me to participate in the 6th International Postgraduate Conference in Irish Studies at Charles University, Prague, in September 2023. The funding allowed me to attend a splendid conference in-person, where I had the chance to meet many young researchers whose research fields deeply resonated with mine. The conference itself was fascinating, as the panels were all very interesting and the host university was absolutely lovely, but I think the best part about it was the opportunity to network with other young researchers, both aiming at future collaborations or simply for the sake of getting to know young people with interests and academic situations similar to mine.

    I want to express my gratitude to EFACIS for funding my research and helping me in the development of my academic career, and I also want to thank the lovely scientific committee behind the conference. It was truly a pleasure to meet them and to get to experience Prague in such a unique way, surrounded by researchers whose knowledge and experiences will undoubtedly help me in my academic and personal development.

  • Sara Romero Otero, PhD Candidate at the University of Seville, Spain