By Donna Mitchell
Sibéal is Northern/Ireland’s only network for postgraduate students and early career scholars working in the field of feminist and gender studies across disciplines. The network was formed in 2006 by Susan Cahill and Claire Bracken, postgraduate students at that time who were responding to the great need for an organisation that focused on feminist and gender studies on the island of Northern/Ireland. We are now ten years in operation and aim to continue creating networking opportunities for postgraduate students and early career researchers. Our current committee is enthusiastic to carry on the task of encouraging members to share their work and avail of the variety of opportunities in this field.
The network has a strong social media presence on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Academia.edu, and sends a quarterly newsletter which members can sign up to at any time by emailing sibealnetwork@gmail.com. Our board members organise the annual conference and manage associated publications and funds. The board also distributes grants and bursaries, as well as maintaining a social media presence for the network. Branch members are our representatives at various Higher Education institutions. These members directly inquire about funding, promote Sibéal on campus and often provide assistance with our annual conferences. Membership is free and we invite postgraduate students across disciplines to join our network and get involved with the association. Apart from hosting an undergraduate essay competition per year, we offer funding grants for events, and have networking and publishing opportunities for members. More information can be found on our website: www.sibeal.ie