Congratulations to our newest CAMRI PhD graduate: Ella Roberts

Portrait of Dr Ella Roberts 

Many congratulations to Ella Roberts, who was awarded her PhD on Public Service and Politics: the BBC’s Irish history programmes prior to and during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

External Examiner Professor Robert Savage, one of the most distinguished experts in the field and from Boston College in the USA, perhaps the most important research centre on Irish and especially Northern Irish history, said ‘This is a compelling thesis that makes a sophisticated and highly original contribution to the history of public broadcasting in the United Kingdom. The candidate excels in addressing the complexities of an evolving Irish historiography and explains how this impacted the BBC’s efforts to educate and inform its audience…she also explores the challenges the broadcast media confronted in trying to address this most conflicted and contentious history.’

Prof Jean Seaton, Ella’s Director of Studies, said: ‘Ella was appointed to this PhD position after the project was created together with the Head of Research at the Imperial War Museum, Dr Suzanne Bardgette, for a successful Techne application. So she worked closely with the IWM in preparation for their groundbreaking exhibition on the Troubles, but also very closely with the BBC in Northern Ireland: all the time reviewing and finding unexplored (and un-catalogued!) new resources. A triumph of scholarly work on a topic— history-making in times of conflict—of immediate and broader resonance’.

Reflecting on her achievement, Ella said: ‘It has been a privilege and a joy to research a topic so close to my heart. I’ve grown immensely as both a writer and a researcher throughout this journey, and I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Jean Seaton and Aasiya Lodhi, for their guidance and support’.

Congratulations Ella!