Monday, 25 July 2022

NIFHS DNA Summer School 2022

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running its annual Summer School from Monday 22nd August to Friday 26th August. The line-up of speakers at this years event includes myself, Martin McDowell, Anne Johnston, and EJ Blom. Details are below.

Bookings are now open through https://www.nifhs.org/courses/ 

One of the differences this year is that our classes are being recorded and will be made available to participants for 28 days to allow people to view classes they missed or rewatch.

Monday 22nd August to Friday 26th August 

via Zoom with 2 classes per day.

The course covers Autosomal DNA, Y-DNA and Mt-DNA with classes for both beginners and more experienced DNA researchers. We have how-to classes and also practical examples to show you how to get the most from your DNA results.

Each day has a theme (see schedule below) and each class is stand alone, so you can attend as many or as few as you like.

Classes will be approximately 90 minutes long, with a presentation followed by a question and answer session. The cost per class is £10 and if you book all 10, the price is £80.

We have an extra bonus exclusively for anyone who books all 10 classes -  you will be invited to a free question and answer session to be held on Saturday 3 September at 3pm. So, if you are puzzled over something you have learned or just want to share a big breakthrough, this will be your chance.

And as well as all this, we have some giveaways and special discounts available during the week - book now and make sure you don’t miss out on what promises to be our best Summer School ever!

Monday 22 August 2022 - Autosomal DNA

3.00pm Making Progress with Autosomal DNA – with Anne Johnston

7.00pm Trees and your matches – with Anne Johnston

Tuesday 23 August 2022 - Autosomal DNA

3.00pm Using the Chromosome Browser effectively – with Anne Johnston

7.00pm Inferred Matches/Mapping – with Martin McDowell

Wednesday 24 August 2022 - Y-DNA

3.00pm The Advantages of Y-DNA – with Martin McDowell

7.00pm Using Y-DNA to connect with ancestors in the 1500s, 1400s, and 1200s  - with Maurice Gleeson

Thursday 25 August 2022 - Mitochondrial DNA

3.00pm The Advantages of MT-DNA – with Martin McDowell

7.00pm Using MT-DNA – with guest speaker

Friday 26 August 2022 - Tools provided by two non-testing companies

3.00pm Using GEDmatch – with Martin McDowell

7.00pm Unravelling trees of matches using AutoKinship from Genetic Affairs – with EJ Blom

Further information about the content of each class and how to book is given in the DNA Summer School page on the Society’s website at NIFHS.

You can also keep informed by following our DNA page on Facebook.


I'll be giving examples of how Y-DNA can help establish connections back beyond the reach of autosomal DNA (1700s) and take us into the 1600s (Morgan), 1500s (Spierin), 1400s (Grace O'Malley), and 1200s (Stewart).

Maurice Gleeson
Aug 2022