Rose Barrett
Clonsilla man Aaron Gallagher was delighted to be among a group from the Fullbright Programme to meet with Ireland’s Deputy Ambassador to the US, Ms Orla Keane, at the Irish Embassy in Washington DC.
Aaron who studied at Dublin City University’s School of Communications, is now completing his PhD in the field of communications and media at the University of Maryland.
As a Fulbright awardee at Maryland, Aaron will compare sports communications strategies between Europe and the US, analysing and comparing how sport is covered by American journalists and media professionals.
“As part of the Fulbright Programme, a group of us including scholarship awardees and members of the Fulbright Commission got the opportunity to sit down with Ms Keane at the Embassy and discuss our different research projects and teaching experiences in the US.
“It was a huge honour to meet with her and tell her about the brilliant work that Fulbright does, forging links between Ireland and America. My PhD is looking at media coverage of the Olympic Games by journalists. I spent last year in Brussels working with the European Olympic Committee and am now looking at the topic from an American perspective.
“Ms Keane told me about the important role sport plays in diplomacy. She said sport is particularly important as a cultural export for a nation like Ireland, which has such a rich sporting heritage (especially with regards to the GAA and the role it plays in the lives of Irish communities abroad). She also said that Olympic champions like Katie Taylor are role models who represent the best of Ireland on the world stage.
“More recently, I got in touch with the office of Congressman Glenn Ivey and was given the opportunity to complete a tour of The White House, which was an incredible experience. During the tour, I learnt The White House was designed by an Irish architect called James Hoban, who had moved to America. He was specifically chosen by George Washington to design the President’s home on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“Thanks to my Fulbright Scholarship, I have gotten so many amazing opportunities to travel across America to different places like New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Virginia and Pennsylvania to attend different sporting events and interview journalists and sports broadcasters for my PhD research. It’s been such an enjoyable time here.”
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