Welcome to Imbas

The National University of Ireland, Galway, Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Medieval Conference

Welcome to Imbas: The NUIG Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Medieval Conference. This conference was established in November 2008 to help provide students of medieval studies with an exciting opportunity to gather for an extensive three day event. Postgraduate students at any stage of their research are invited to attend and participate at the conference. 

The Old Irish word imbas is a compositional form,*imb-fius, meaning 'great knowledge'. Its actual meaning is obscure and is frequently referred to in the literature of early Medieval Ireland as relating to foreknowledge that has been obtained by magical or occult means. We use the term imbas to refer to the scholarly process, similar to the learned art referred to by Feidelm, poetess of Connacht in the great Irish epic 'Táin Bó Cúailnge' (TBC1:41-44).

Imbas Open Research Day: Saturday 18th May 2019

The 2019 Imbas committee is delighted to announce the call for expressions of interest for the first Open Research Day, ahead of the tenth Imbas conference this winter. The research day will run from 09:30-17:00 on Saturday the 18th of May in the Hardiman Research Building, Moore Institute, NUI Galway.

We invite presentations from all disciplines with a focus on any topic from Late Antiquity to the end of the medieval period. Interested postgraduates are invited to submit a title and abstract of 250-300 words, for a research presentation of 10-20 minutes, to the Imbas committee at imbasnuig@gmail.com by 17:00 on the 5th of April, 2019.