Academic Enrichment Workshop, 8th to 14th June 2025

This week-long workshop in June 2025 builds on learning from our most enjoyable June 2024 workshop. We will examine in greater depth how the challenge of An Gorta Mor, the Great Irish Famine, affected contemporaneous and subsequent literature, especially those writers of global appeal and how it relates to today.

Sunday, June 8th

From Dublin or Belfast, catch the regular coach service to Enniskillen. The UISCE Campus is 5 minutes walk from Enniskillen coach station. Settle into your accommodation and then we meet as a group for dinner, before introducing the programme and what lies ahead for the week.

Spend the evening relaxing: Explore Enniskillen for pubs “craic agus ceol” - fun and music - or unwind at the campus.

Monday, June 9th

  • With local literary enthusiasts, dive into the legacy of Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde before going on a walking tour around Enniskillen to discover The Happy Prince, Portora Royal and the Beckett Trail.

  • A boat trip to the early Christian monastic site on Devenish Island takes us back 1500 years, and see first hand one of St Molaise’s community, who inspired Colmcille and How The Irish saved Civilisation. A great place for a picnic lunch amidst its ancient ruins!

  • Enjoy free time in the late afternoon, followed by the best of Irish beef at our BBQ at UISCE.

Tuesday, June 10th

  • Engage with the social, political, military and economic dynamics that forged "An Gorta Mor," the Great Irish Famine, after which our tour visits Strokestown House & Famine Museum., followed by lunch in Carrick-on-Shannon, and on to climb the “hill of executions”, Knocknarea, where lies atop Connaught’s Queen Maeve, or so it is said

  • The evening closes with dinner in one of Sligo’s great restaurants., close to the ocean.

Wednesday, June 11th

  • We head through North Leitrim and Yeats’ Land of Heart’s Desire, North Sligo.

  • Brexit at Belcoo, Glenfarne's Tale of Two Halls at the Ballroom of Romance, Kiltyclogher's Revolutionary leader Sean MacDermott; then the world of W.B. Yeats, exploring Glencar Valley, Rosses Point, and Drumcliffe; before dinner by the ocean at Mullaghmore and a late evening drive back to UISCE via Glenade’s Eagle Rock.

Thursday, June 12th

  • Visit the Seamus Heaney Homestead, stepping into the life and words the latest Great Irish Nobel Laurate poet; but not only that! Take part in a creative writing workshop that will help you connect with and process all that this week stirs within.

  • Then on to the Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site; before dinner in a superb local eatery.

Friday, June 13th

  • Today is an opportunity to step back from all the academic engagement and drink in the ocean air, clear the head! We head west to the awe-inspiring Slieve League sea cliffs, towering over the Atlantic Ocean, and a hill climb for the eager.

  • Ireland’s largest fishing port, Killybegs, offers some tasty bites; and a sumptuous end-of-tour dinner near Donegal town is a must, before returning to the UISCE Campus, enriched with a fuller understanding of part of Ireland’s culture and history.

The workshop ends after breakfast, but participants are welcome to stay for a few days to avail of the campus as a touring base.

Saturday, June 14th

This Academic Enrichment Workshop aims to offer a refreshing opportunity for the professional development for teachers, other educators and others who have an interest in Irish literature, history and culture. The programme’s purpose is to enrich your understanding so that you can enrich your students. We work with small groups, and therefore places on each programme are limited. It is recommended that you book early, even just by securing your place with the booking deposit. The fee for the full programme is £1650 which includes B&B single ensuite accommodation, with two evening meals on campus. On the other days, meals away from campus are at your own choice. The fee also includes speakers, access to visitor centres, and transport during the programme, but excludes flights. To secure your place, you have two options.

Two Booking Options

  1. Pay £500 as a transferable deposit secures your place, or

  2. Pay £1500 and save £150 off the full price.

“The workshop was the highlight of my summer!”

Samantha Jensen, Avon Old Farms School

Read more about UISCE’s Academic Enrichment Workshops below.

Our Academic Enrichment Workshops are carefully designed to offer people like you - High School / Secondary School Teachers, other educators and those with a passion for the topic we are studying - a unique professional development experience. 

You will meet wonderful people, experience rich culture, most likely fall in love with Ireland and go away enriched, refreshed and motivated, with a world of insights that you just won’t get from reading a book or watching a video.

To us, Ireland is as an open-air classroom.  We get you “out and about”, delving into Ireland’s acclaimed literary heritage, its complex, fascinating history, its rich culture and stunning scenery. 

One of our key strengths is our ability to assemble a range of local Irish people with expertise and insights who offer you so much.  For the teacher, this is an opportunity to be more than refreshed,, to be enriched, equipped and enabled to be an even better teacher, educator and student.  To discover so much more.  

Ireland’s landscape and history shaped literary greats, such as Wilde, Beckett, Heaney, and Yeats and offers so much.  It’s also your opportunity to connect with contemporary Ireland and gain insights to the Irish Peace Process. 

In addition to our academic interests, there’s great food and time to experience local culture, and you will see first-hand what UISCE can offer your students by way of bespoke Study Abroad programmes, internships, and the options for bringing a group of students to Ireland.   

So, let us help you discover Ireland!  

Georgetown Day School teacher, Sue Ikenberry, remarks: “There is something almost magical about seeing the part of the world from which these writers came from.  It’s one thing to read about a “Land of Heart’s Desire”, but seeing it adds so much insight.  It’s transformative! “

Click on the Book Now link above to secure your place in our June 2025 Academic Enrichment Workshop