Dr Ciarán Bartlett

Dr Ciarán Bartlett

Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology
Doctoral Researcher

Contact details

Qualifications

  • BA Ancient History (QUB, 2008)
  • MA Ancient History (QUB, 2009
  • MA Journalism (UU, 2011)
  • NCTJ/BCJ Level Three Diploma Multiplatform Journalism (UU, 2011)
  • PhD Journalism and Media Studies (UU, 2014)

Biography

I attended Queen's University Belfast from 2005-2009, and Ulster University from 2010-2014. I taught at Ulster from 2011-2019. I have been working as a comedian and writer since 2010, full-time since 2019. I have attended Birmingham since 2021.

Teaching

I lectured across journalism, media studies, and film studies courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Ulster University from 2011-2019.As I am a distance learner, I am currently unable to teach at Birmingham.

Doctoral research

Research

This multidisciplinary thesis is primarily an attempt to investigate the manner and methods of mass communication in the Flavian period of the Roman Empire, assessing ancient evidence and modern scholarship from the perspective of scholarly communications, public relations, and media studies. Part One of this thesis seeks to evaluate the different material methods of mass communication: numismatics; literature; epigraphy; art and architecture. The three vital research questions at the heart of this thesis are as follows:

  1. What were the methods and character of mass communication in the Flavian period?
  2. What did the Flavians communicate and with whom?
  3. To what extent was communication between the Flavians and their citizens a two-way process and was this communication effective?

Part Two of this thesis presents case studies surrounding some specific messages that were created with a view to commenting on the (in)efficacy of Flavian communication. It will examine a range of evidence across three selected themes, one per chapter. The themes are Flavian communication as a proponent of the public information model of public relations; the communicative power of the triumph and the converse futility of resistance; and looking at the end of the dynasty as an example of regime change.

Other activities

  • I gave multpiple papers on journalism, journalism history, media studies at conferences in Dublin, Harvard, Sheffield, Derry, Belfast between 2012-2018.
  • I gave a paper on Flavian numismatics in Rome in 2023.
  • I was on the Rosetta Journal committee as editor of the Colloquium Issue in 2022, and as the Articles Editor for the main issue in 2023.I work as a writer and comedian.
  • I host a comedy/gaming podcast, No Blasters With Ciarán Bartlett, and co-host a comedy/history podcast with Shane Todd, Mythstories.

Publications

Publication in Refereed Journals

‘Bitter ends: Some notes on the BBC presentation of the Libya conflict, 2011’ in Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2015, pp. 381-395

Selected Conference Papers

  • The Flavian flip side: mass communication in the coins of Domitian(The Damned Despot: Rethinking Domitian and the Flavian World International Conference, Rome, 2023)
  • “His Corpse Was Mighty Poor Pickin’, Maglone”: The Life and Work of R. A. Wilson aka Barney Maglone(NPHFI Conference, Dublin, 2013)
  • Places for News, Spaces for Culture: Newspapers in Nineteenth Century Belfast (IJAS Conference, Harvard, 2013)
  • Places for News, Spaces for Culture: Newspapers in Nineteenth Century Belfast (MeCCSA Conference, Derry, 2013)
  • Orientalism, the BBC and Videogames: The Presentation of China as the New ‘Other’ (Postgraduate symposium, Ulster University, 2013)
  • Fenianism and ‘The Manchester Outrage’, 1867: The View from Belfast's Newspapers (CMR presentation, Ulster University, 2012)
  • Bitter Ends: Some Notes on BBC Coverage of the Libya Conflict (Postgraduate symposium, Ulster University, 2011)

I also publish a weekly column in the Sunday Life newspaper, since November 2022.