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Catriona Edington, a PhD student in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s, has been awarded a place on the Summer Visiting Doctoral Research Fellowship. The fellowship will see her spend two months on campus in Boston, from June to August 2026, progressing her research and engaging with an international community of scholars.

Catriona’s research explores human and animal fertility management in early modern England, examining how various medical, cultural and social approaches shaped responses to human and veterinary reproduction.

The programme supports doctoral students from partner universities to undertake a period of research at Boston College, with fellows receiving support including travel, accommodation and a stipend, alongside access to the University’s academic environment.

Speaking about the opportunity, Catriona said:

“I am absolutely thrilled to have been selected for this programme. The BC summer fellowship offers access to world class academic personnel, institutions and archival documents  as well as a providing an important experience in the education systems in the North American system. I’m particularly looking forwards to their O’Neil library collection, which contains some material related to dogs, horses and the topics of eighteenth-century animal health and breeding, which will be a significant addition to an animal-based reproduction project. I therefore look forward to seeing the direct impact that this has on my PhD project itself as well as career as a whole.  A huge thanks to Pearce and my supervision team Professor Chris Marsh and Dr Leonie Hannan for supporting me though this application.”

Queen’s has an established partnership with Boston College, with collaboration spanning student mobility, research engagement and academic exchange. Catriona’s selection follows that of Queen’s student Pearce Magee, who was the first student from the University to take part in the fellowship programme last year.

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Peter Gray, Academic Lead for the Queen’s–Boston College partnership, said:

“We are delighted to see Catriona selected for this generous and highly competitive fellowship at Boston College. Our partnership with Boston College is built on a strong foundation of collaboration, particularly in areas such as Irish Studies, and has continued to grow across research, education, and staff and student exchange. Opportunities such as this provide invaluable international experience for our doctoral researchers and reflect the strength of this important partnership.”