Jackie Uí Chionna

Jackie Uí Chionna was born in Dublin, but now lives in Galway, where she teaches History at the University of Galway. She has combined a career in heritage management with academia and academic research. A graduate of UCD in History and English, she holds a PhD in History (NUIG), an MA in Heritage Management( Hons I) from UCC, and a Higher Diploma in Education (Hons I) from Trinity College Dublin. Her specialism is in modern Irish history, and she has a particular interest in the social and cultural history of the revolutionary period, 1912-1922, and the emergence of the independent Irish state. Her other research interests include oral history, the history of Irish family businesses, and the history of education.

Her recent research is more global in nature, and relates to the history of intelligence, specifically cryptography and the breaking of codes for the purposes of wartime intelligence gathering. She was awarded an Archives By-Fellowship at Churchill College Cambridge in 2019 where she undertook research on the history of codebreaking during the First and Second World Wars. Her biography of Emily Anderson OBE, entitled Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain's Greatest Female Code Breaker (Headline UK), was published in April 2023.The book was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography in 2024. In April 2023 she took up a Visiting Scholarship at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing at Wolfson College Oxford, where she began work on her next book, a collective biography of the female codebreakers of the First and Second World Wars. She was recently awarded the Byrne-Bussey Marconi Fellowship in the History of Science, Technology and Communication at the Bodleian Library Oxford, to progress her research on the women codebreakers recruited from Oxbridge all-women colleges during the First and Second World Wars. She will take up the Fellowship in Trinity Term 2025. Dr. Uí Chionna is currently an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Studies, at the University of London.

She is an experienced oral historian, and has used oral history extensively in her research. A fluent Irish speaker, she has taught history courses through the medium of Irish, and has incorporated Irish language sources extensively in her publications and conference presentations.

From 2007-2009 she was commissioned as Senior Researcher by NUI Galway to undertake "The University in Living Memory Oral History Project". The project was designed to establish what it was like to study, teach or work at University College Galway from 1930-1980.  A publication based on the project's interviews,  entitled An Oral History of University College Galway, 1930-1980: A University in Living Memory  was published in 2019 by Four Courts Press, Dublin.

From 2013-15 she held the Thomas McDonogh Post-Doctoral research fellowship at NUIG, during which she produced a biography of Galway businessman, entrepreneur and politician, Máirtín Mór McDonogh . The resulting book He Was Galway: Máirtín Mór McDonogh, 1860-1934 (Four Courts Press, 2016) was shortlisted for the NUI Historical Research Prize in 2019.

From April 2023- April 2024 Dr. Ui Chionna was Researcher on the Visual History of the University of Galway, Retired Staff Collection. This significant digital collection went launched online in April  2024.

Dr. Uí Chionna is Editor of the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, in which capacity she has produced nine Volumes of the Journal (2016-2024). An accomplished media performer and fluent Irish speaker, she has contributed to numerous TV and Radio documentaries in Ireland and the UK, in both Irish and English.

My specialism is in modern Irish history, and I have a particular interest in the social and cultural history of the revolutionary period, 1912-1922, and the emergence of the independent Irish state. My other research interests include oral history, the history of Irish family businesses, and the history of education. 

My recent research is more global in nature, and relates to the history of intelligence, specifically cryptography and the breaking of codes for the purposes of wartime intelligence gathering. I have been awarded a Visiting Scholarship at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing at Wolfson College Oxford, where I will undertake research on my next book, a collective biography of the female codebreakers of the First and Second World Wars. I will take up the Visiting Scholarship in April 2023.

I am an experienced oral historian, and have used oral history extensively in my research.