Biography

Richard Kirwan obtained a Ph.D. in History from Trinity College Dublin in 2007. Prior to taking up the Max Weber Fellowship he held an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
Dr Kirwan’s research explores the social and cultural history of universities in the early modern period with a geographical focus on the Holy Roman Empire. His work is especially concerned with the forms and social effects of academic representational practices. In particular his research examines the manner in which image fashioning enterprises facilitated the advancement of professorial social groups within the territorial state and beyond.
Dr Kirwan’s publications include a monograph entitled Empowerment and Representation at the University in Early Modern Germany: Helmstedt and Würzburg, 1576-1634, (Wolfenbütteler Arbeiten zur Barockforschung 46, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2009).