8 June 2006
Otago Appoints NZ's First Professor of Irish Studies
New Zealand’s first Professor of Irish Studies has been appointed at the University of Otago. The holder of the Eamon
Cleary Chair in Irish Studies will be Associate Professor Peter Kuch from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Currently Convenor of Irish Studies at UNSW, Associate Professor Kuch has a Master of Letters and a Doctorate from
Oxford University, where he studied under Professors Richard Ellmann and John Kelly. The author of a highly regarded
cultural history of the Irish Literary Renaissance based on the friendship between W B Yeats and George William Russell
(“AE”), Prof Kuch has also published several other books, numerous articles and reviews, and has broadcast on television
and radio.
In addition to being an internationally respected expert on Irish literature, he has a deep knowledge of modern Irish
history and culture – including Irish theatre and film. He is the Director of the Irish Film Festival in Sydney and
Melbourne, and is the representative for Australia and New Zealand on the international organising committee of the
Irish Theatrical Diaspora project, a research project that is writing the history of the performance of Irish theatre
from settlement to the present.
Besides his time at UNSW, Prof Kuch has taught at leading universities in Ireland, including Trinity College, Dublin,
and at the Universities of Newcastle in Australia and Caen in France. He’s also been a Visiting Fellow at the Humanities
Research Centre, at the Australian National University.
The Chair in Irish Studies has been made possible by a generous endowment to the University of Otago by Mr Eamon Cleary,
an Irish businessman who now has a home in New Zealand. As part of the University’s Leading Thinkers Initiative, Mr
Cleary’s gift attracted matching funding from the Government under the Partnerships for Excellence scheme.
In announcing the appointment, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago, Professor David Skegg, said that he was
delighted that the University had been able to attract someone of Prof Kuch’s calibre.
“Professor Kuch is an ideal person to build up the Irish Studies programme at Otago. I expect that he will make a
significant impact in New Zealand, not only in the study of Irish literature, but also in promoting Irish film and other
expressions of Irish culture,” Prof Skegg says. “The primary role of the Chair in Irish Studies is to support research
and scholarship, but I am sure that the work of the Chair will also help to strengthen the many links that exist between
New Zealand and Ireland.”
For his part Prof Kuch said he was excited by the appointment. “Though both comparatively small and outlying countries,
New Zealand and Ireland continue to make significant contributions to a wide range of issues facing the world. I see the
Eamon Cleary Chair as the means by which each country can learn more about the other even as they come to understand
more about themselves. This is a marvellous opportunity for the University and the community.”
Professor Kuch will take up his appointment at the beginning of September.
ENDS