Boost for research on Irish-Latin American relations

18 July 2007

Dr Matthew Brown of the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies is one of two 2007 grant recipients of the Irish Latin American Research Fund.

Dr Matthew Brown of the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies is one of two 2007 grant recipients of the Irish Latin American Research Fund, awarded by the Society for Irish Latin American Studies (SILAS). The grants were announced last month at the ‘Adventurers, Emissaries and Settlers: Ireland and Latin America’ Conference at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Dr Brown will receive 1,000 Euros for his research project ‘Daniel O'Leary and José María Córdoba 1828-1829’. Daniel O'Leary was the aide-de-camp of South American liberator Simón Bolívar during the War of Independence in Venezuela and Colombia.

Dr Brown said: ‘I am enormously grateful for this grant, which will enable me to consult local archives in Colombia for my research. The considerable archival resources in Colombia mean that there is plenty of scope for more research on the Irish there. The generosity of SILAS members and donors means that I can try to get to the bottom of some complex and confusing questions regarding the role of the Irish in Colombia in the first decades after independence.’

The Irish Latin American Research Fund is the only grant programme funding studies on Irish-Latin American relations. Since its inception in 2003, SILAS has been active in obtaining research funding for students and scholars. The grants programme is financed solely by membership fees and donations.