Science AI Journal
Social Sciences · Research topic

Open research questions in Irish and British Studies

293 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 4,082 Irish and British Studies papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The paper identifies a gap in understanding the decline of religious influence in Ireland. It highlights the need to consider factors like economic growth, increased religious pluralism, and the end of the Troubles. The paper notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the decline of religious influence, but faith communities have played important roles in providing social services.

    Ireland Is Post-Catholic, But Religion Still Matters · 2025 · DOI

  • The library’s location in Lawrence, Kansas, at a distance from the coastal research corridors, means that its collections tend to be underexplored, despite their significance.

    One British Archive: Stocked Stacks in the Great Plains: British and Irish Collections at the University of Kansas’s Kenneth Spencer Research Library · 2026 · DOI

  • Abstract Based on the findings of a major oral history study, this article uses the personal narratives of Ulster Protestant migrants to illuminate some of the understudied cultural and human impacts of the Northern Ireland Troubles for postwar British society.

    Anxieties of Belonging: Ulster Protestant Migrants and the Troubles in Late Imperial England · 2026 · DOI

  • Balancing a sense of past, present, and future in theatrical productions. Preserving local traditions while remaining relevant to contemporary theatre audiences. Incorporating Irish traditional music, song, and dance into contemporary theatre productions.

    Balancing Time: Seeing the past, present, future and other time in the productions of Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a need to understand how Siamsa Tíre has developed and changed over time. There is a need to examine the company's use of time as a narrative device.

    Balancing Time: Seeing the past, present, future and other time in the productions of Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland · 2026 · DOI

  • The influence of English authors like S. Richardson, Frances Burney, or Ann Radcliffe on Edgeworth's work is often ignored. The tradition of the Gothic tale and its impact on Edgeworth's novels is not fully explored.

    Feminine Tradition in Maria Edgeworth's Irish Novels · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should prioritize the publication of biographies of women in Irish history. The 'Life and times' series can serve as a model for future biographies of prominent women.

    Will there ever be enough books about women? Mary MacSwiney, biographies of women, and Irish history · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of biographical accounts of women in Irish history is a significant gap. The gap in biographical accounts of women is particularly notable compared to the numerous biographies of male political figures.

    Will there ever be enough books about women? Mary MacSwiney, biographies of women, and Irish history · 2026 · DOI

  • The impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland's political environment. The role of the US in the region's peace process. The implications of the Biden administration's approach to the region.

    There is no reason for the United States to ever get involved in regulating the temperature of sausages being imported to Northern Ireland: US government intervention in Northern Ireland post-Brexit · 2026 · DOI

  • The persistence of patriarchal norms and toxic masculinity. The need for cultural transformation and policy-driven change. The challenge of making male allyship meaningful and sustained.

    S14-4: Equality in Sport and Male Allyship · 2026 · DOI

  • The need for male allyship to be framed and conceptualized within a context of greater equality in sport. The invisibility of male privilege in sport.

    S14-4: Equality in Sport and Male Allyship · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could explore the ways in which other postmodern texts represent national identity and the role of literature in shaping cultural and national identity. Future research could examine the implications of the paper's findings for discussions about Scottish independence and self-representation. Future research could investigate the ways in which the novel Lanark can inform discussions about the importance of literary representation for political representation and independence.

    “LET GLASGOW FLOURISH BY TELLING THE TRUTH:” SEARCH FOR THE SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE IN ALASDAIR GRAY’S LANARK · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the novel Lanark as a postmodern text that explores the relationship between language, culture, and power. The paper highlights the need for a closer examination of the ways in which the novel represents the Scottish reality as a stateless nation.

    “LET GLASGOW FLOURISH BY TELLING THE TRUTH:” SEARCH FOR THE SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE IN ALASDAIR GRAY’S LANARK · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the understanding of the role of memorization in shaping collective identity and conflict. The study highlights the importance of understanding the role of memorization in shaping collective identity and conflict.

    Bitva u Boyne v moderní (severo)irské paměti · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap is the need to examine the satirical strategies employed by Swift to expose moral hypocrisy and economic exploitation. The gap is the need to analyze the essay as both a literary and moral interrogation of political rationality.

    Exposing Social Injustice through Satirical Discourse in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” · 2026 · DOI

  • The narrow spectrum of critical interest in Yerby's work despite his commercial success. The lack of analysis on the novel's use of dialect as a form of resistance to language hegemony and racial hierarchicalism. The need to fill the gap in critical consideration of Yerby's fiction.

    Costuming Language: Dialect, Whiteness, and Power in Frank Yerby's The Foxes of Harrow · 2026 · DOI

  • Virtual reality (VR) offers a promising platform for intergroup contact, yet the conditions under which it effectively shapes attitudes remain poorly understood, particularly in post-conflict contexts.

    Reducing sectarian prejudice through virtual reality in the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland · 2026 · DOI

  • The challenge of increasing local autonomy in a heavily centralised system. The need to balance the role of local and national government. The challenge of addressing the internal imbalance between the elected member's role and that of the executive.

    Ireland’s taskforce on local democracy · 2025 · DOI

  • The potential for further research on the impact of the taskforce's proposals. The need for ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the Local Democracy Taskforce.

    Ireland’s taskforce on local democracy · 2025 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the development of a post-growth approach to well-being. The paper identifies a gap in the connection between well-being and climate action.

    Ireland’s Well-being Framework: Going beyond growth? · 2025 · DOI

  • Systemic barriers mitigate against bridging social capital. Government community relations policies have had limited impact over time. The education system embeds polarisation.

    Polarisation and inequality: ‘peace’ in Northern Ireland · 2025 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in understanding why Northern Ireland remains a polarised society despite the return of devolution. The research highlights the need to tackle social and economic inequalities to bridge social capital.

    Polarisation and inequality: ‘peace’ in Northern Ireland · 2025 · DOI

  • The upsurge in race hate and racism has to be viewed in the context of the continuing existence of loyalist paramilitary groups and most especially the enduring sectarian division which is shown to have not been adequately addressed in the years since the Belfast Agreement of 1998.

    Systemic sectarianism in Northern Ireland · 2024 · DOI

  • This article explores one sub-section of ARC’s data, relating to the strikingly negative experiences of abortion-seekers attempting to access care between ten and twelve weeks in Irish hospitals: a thus far underexplored aspect of abortion experience in the Republic of Ireland.

    Unruly bodies (of knowledge): influencing Irish abortion policy through evidence-based abortion activism · 2023 · DOI

  • I look at some important, if little known and perhaps quirky, interactions: Erskine’s relationship with the Irish poet and revolutionary, Patrick Pearse; Erskine’s critique of the “Anglo-Irish school” in the form of the Abbey Theatre and, finally, his engagement with obscure ideas to restore the High King of Ireland.

    Principles and Curses: The Honourable Ruaraidh Erskine of Mar and Some Irish Connections · 2023 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Irish and British Studies

Most recent work

Find a gap in your own Irish and British Studies sub-topic

This page shows what the Irish and British Studies literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, run the guided finder — it searches the gap library on demand and checks candidates against 250M+ OpenAlex works.

Open the Research Gap Finder →

Related topics in Social Sciences

Legal Issues in Turkey
2,430 open questions
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
2,108 open questions
Higher Education Research Studies
1,907 open questions
Global Educational Policies and Reforms
1,881 open questions
Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
1,849 open questions
Social Work Education and Practice
1,735 open questions
Science Education and Pedagogy
1,620 open questions
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
1,568 open questions
293 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 4,082 Irish and British Studies papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

Tools for your next paper

Gaps & Literature SearchFind open questions in any field — 120,000+ open gaps mined from our own library.Pre-CheckIs your paper ready? A Tier 1–5 acceptance probability in seconds.Journal FinderA ranked shortlist of target journals from a 17,500-venue index.Duplicate Publication CheckerCheck prior-publication & salami-slicing risk across 8 sources.Citation GeneratorFreeA DOI or title → APA, MLA, Vancouver, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS. No signup.Graphical Abstract MakerFreeTurn your findings into a colorblind-safe graphical abstract.

Compare the category — Honest roundups of the AI research tools, ours listed alongside the alternatives.

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.