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Open research questions in Irish and British Studies

273 gap statements mined from Irish and British Studies papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 4,233 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

Choosing where to publish on Irish and British Studies? See the ranked Social Science journals.

What the literature leaves open

  • Although murder-suicide was deliberated, Dr Byrne dissuaded the jury from conjecture about the ‘respectable couple’ citing a lack of evidence and ‘no marks of violence in the body’; instead, to spare the Guilfoyle family further grief, stigma, and reputational 79Evening Herald, 25 Jan.

    Newspapers as Surrogate Archives: A Case Study of the Early Twentieth-Century Dublin City Coroner’s Court · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper highlights the need to examine the carceral practices in the system and their impact on asylum seekers. The paper argues that the existing research has not adequately addressed the intersection of gender and carcerality in the system.

    Carceralities and Approved Gender Violence: The Case of Direct Provision in Ireland · 2024 · 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

  • 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.

    “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 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 purity of language, standard English, and the worthiness of dialect remain controversial issues in educational policy, literary criticism, and social relationships, making the intervention used by Yerby in 1946 constantly relevant.

    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 lack of understanding of how rebel financing affects the likelihood of peace. The gap in the literature on the boundary between political violence and organised crime.

    Rebel financing and the commitment problem in civil conflict: An application to Northern Ireland · 2026 · DOI

  • 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 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

  • 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

  • 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 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

  • Government community relations policies have had limited impact over time. The education system embeds polarisation.

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

  • It argues that crimes of this nature may have been under-reported, as women had no incentive to report the crimes of the RIC and every reason to refrain from doing so.

    ‘Looting and overtures and acts of indecency by Black and Tans’: the pursuit of justice for acts of sexual violence during Ireland’s War of Independence (1919–21) · 2021 · DOI

  • The emergence of the self-governing Irish Free State in 1922 did not immediately change this position and natural law was limited to a peripheral position during the drafting of the first Irish Constitution.

    Natural Law in Early Twentieth Century Ireland – State (Ryan) v Lennon and its Aftermath · 2021 · 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

  • Further and detailed research on the extent to which digitized newspapers can be used as surrogate sources for legal records, - More critical analysis of the embedded gender and class biases that influenced editorial…

    Newspapers as Surrogate Archives: A Case Study of the Early Twentieth-Century Dublin City Coroner’s Court · 2026 · 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, search the Research Gap Finder: the search is free with a free account and lists the papers closest to your topic first. Unlocking that topic (50 credits, charged once) fills the comparison table from our 7.9M-paper local library and writes the gaps from its rows.

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) There is a need to understand how Siamsa Tíre has developed and changed over time (“Balancing Time: Seeing the past, present, future and other time in the…”, 2026); (2) 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); (3) Future research should prioritize the publication of biographies of women in Irish history (“Will there ever be enough books about women? Mary MacSwiney, biographies of…”, 2026); (4) 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 (““LET GLASGOW FLOURISH BY TELLING THE TRUTH:” SEARCH FOR THE SCOTTISH…”, 2026); (5) The purity of language, standard English, and the worthiness of dialect remain controversial issues in educational policy, literary criticism, and social relationships, making the intervention used by Yerby in 1946 constantly relevant (“Costuming Language: Dialect, Whiteness, and Power in Frank Yerby's The Foxes of…”, 2026). 273 gap statements have been mined from Irish and British Studies papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 4,233 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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