Sports Travel Academy

Ireland Academic Director in Sport Management

Dr. Paul Rouse is a professor at University College Dublin and has extensively researched and authored texts on the history of Irish and global sport. His main research interest lies in the history of sport but also extends in to popular culture, the history of the media, and the history of agriculture. As a professor, his teaching modules focus on sport and popular culture, including a module entitled: "Manufacturing Truth in the Modern World: Propaganda, Evidence, Lies, Analysis, Perspective, Power." Using a series of case studies, this module examines the history of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Ultimately, the module is about the primacy  of analyzing evidence and of critical thinking. 

As an author, Dr. Rouse is most well known for the following texts: "The GAA: A People's History" (linked here) and "Sport & Ireland: A History" (linked here).

Dr. Rouse also works as a historical consultant on TV programs and previously made a documentary while working as a reporter with Prime Time Investigates in RTE. His documentary "Lost Generation" (linked here)tells the history of elderly Irish citizens who live in Britain. He also worked on documentaries for TG4, including as producer-director for one on the Tailteann Games. 

He is the Co-Director of two major public history projects: "Century Ireland" (linked here), the main online portal for the Irish decade of commemorations from 1912-1923, and "GAA Oral History Project" (linked here), the largest oral history project undertaken by any sporting organization in the world. Dr. Rouse has also written contextual pages on Ireland in the early 20th century for the National Archives website (linked here) that made available the 1911 Census. He is also the founding editor of historyhub.ie, UCD's public history website. 

​​Dr. Rouse also writes a weekly column for the Irish Examiner newspaper and presents the Examiner Sport podcast on Gaelic football. 

Paul has supported, coached, and played Gaelic Sports with his home county Offaly GAA club and loves educating visiting students about Irish Sport, History, & Culture.