The Irish History Students’ Association (IHSA) annual conference in 2021 was unique within the organisation’s history. The restrictions that the Covid-19 pandemic imposed, forced the Organising Committee at the Department of History, Maynooth University, to change the traditional format of this conference to a virtual setting. Conscious that the annual IHSA conference has remained, since 1950, an integral milestone in the organisation’s calendar, the Committee was eager to uphold – despite the barriers to intra-personal contact and travel this year – the commitment to dialogue between early-career researchers. This was achieved, and more: the move to a virtual conference allowed the organisation to extend its reach across geographic borders, welcoming an international audience of early-career researchers, academics, professionals, diplomats, politicians, and a broad audience of those with a love of history. It was our great pleasure to welcome speakers from fifteen universities across the island of Ireland, England, and the United States of America each of whom provided an intriguing insight into their respective research area. We would like to thank them for their part in making this conference a well-rounded and fruitful event.