Ryan Lash (2023–24)

Postdoctoral Research Associate (2023–24)

Ryan Lash is a postdoctoral research associate at the Clingen Family Center for the Study of Modern Ireland.

He studies how island communities creatively engage their cultural and ecological heritage to foster collaboration and sustainability.

Since 2007, he has conducted archaeological and ethnographic fieldwork as part of the Cultural Landscapes of the Irish Coast Project, directed by Keough-Naughton faculty fellow, Ian Kuijt.

His first monograph, Island Endurance: Creative Heritage on Inishark and Inishbofin, is forthcoming from Indiana University Press. Integrating ethnography with new archaeological evidence, the book traces how islanders adapted traditions of pilgrimage and pastoralism to generate new opportunities for livelihood across centuries – from early medieval monasticism, to 19th-century rundale agriculture, to contemporary heritage and eco-tourism.

At the Clingen Family Center, he is the co-director of Islands and Islanders in the Atlantic World. This project aims to bring together island representatives, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to consider the most pressing challenges facing island communities from Ireland and across the North Atlantic zone. A pilot symposium – Living on the Edge: Island Livelihoods in Climate Crisis – will be held in Kirkwall, Orkney April 4-8, 2024.

Ryan was formerly a Naughton Fellow at the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies and an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Archaeology at University College Dublin. His work has been published in Antiquity, Medieval Archaeology, and Current Anthropology. A recent episode of the Amplify Archaeology Podcast features Ryan alongside Inishbofin islander Tommy Burke in a discussion of island pilgrimage traditions, community archaeology, and a recent campaign to repatriate human remains to Inishbofin.

Ryan maintains collaborations with the Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture (CEAMC) at UCD, where he contributes to hands-on teaching and replicates early medieval carved cross-slabs for local heritage groups.