Norma Owens

Norma Owens is a doctoral researcher in history whose research focuses on female entrepreneurship, social networks, and knowledge transmission in eighteenth-century Ireland. Her doctoral project, Irish Lacemaking Networks in the Long Eighteenth Century, examines the origins and development of lacemaking industries in early modern Ireland and the role of social and economic networks in the transfer of specialised knowledge from continental Europe. 

Her research adopts an interdisciplinary digital humanities approach, combining archival research, Historical Social Network Analysis, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and material culture analysis to investigate patterns of connectivity, knowledge diffusion, and female agency within historical networks. She is particularly interested in the application of computational and quantitative methods to fragmented historical sources and the recovery of under-represented social groups.

Norma graduated with a first-class honours MA in History from the University of Galway, achieving the highest mark ever awarded for the thesis component for her research applying Historical Social Network Analysis to eighteenth-century Irish lacemaking networks. Her current work has been supported through a College of Arts Fellowship at the University of Galway. Publications include research on women’s labour, historical network analysis, and Irish textile industries, with forthcoming contributions in Women’s History Review and edited collections on historical network analysis and Irish lace history.

Prior to commencing postgraduate research, Norma worked in primary education before completing a degree in photography, developing expertise in communication, pedagogy, and visual analysis that informs her interdisciplinary research practice. Norma is an active member of the Digital Humanities Research Centre and has worked as a teaching assistant across undergraduate History and postgraduate Computer Science (Web and Network Science) modules at the university.