Biography

I am Senior Lecturer and Head of PIR.

I have a PhD from Queen's University Belfast and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Penn Program in Ethnic Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania. I joined Aberdeen as a Research Fellow (Leverhulme Trust), appointed as a Lecturer in 2010 and Senior Lecturer in 2015.

I am interested in the politics of deeply divided societies. My work has been published as monographs (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), (Palgrave Macmillan 2012, with David Galbreath), an edited volume (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, with Brendan O'Leary) and articles in journals including the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Cooperation and Conflict, Democratization, Government and Opposition, Ethnopolitics, Irish Studies in International Affairs, Journal of European Integration, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Security Dialogue, and Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

I am Co-Investigator on the project INCLUSIVEPEACE, exploring citizen inclusion in power-sharing settlements. The ORA7 funded project is led by PIs in the UK (Prof Neo Loizides, University of Kent), Canada (Prof Allison McCulloch, Brandon University), Japan (Prof Yuji Uesugi, Waseda University) and New Caledonia (Prof Mathias Chauchat, University of New Caledonia). This international project is funded with £1.6million over three years in seven cases (Bosnia, Cyprus, Lebanon, New Caledonia, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, and South Africa). 

I have recently completed three projects on the diversity of voices on constitutional change in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit. These projects were in collaboration with Professor Jennifer Todd and Dr Dawn Walsh (University College Dublin) and funded by the Irish Research Council and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Our research drew on focus groups and interviews with groups largely disengaged from constitutional politics (women's groups, ethnic minorities, and youth).

Research Overview

• Ethnic Conflict and Peace Processes
• The role of International Organisations in Post-Conflict Peace-Building
• Power-Sharing in Deeply Divided Places
• Minority Rights in Europe

Current Research

I am Co-Investigator on the project INCLUSIVEPEACE, exploring citizen inclusion in power-sharing settlements. The ORA7 funded project is led by PIs in the UK (Prof Neo Loizides, University of Kent), Canada (Prof Allison McCulloch, Brandon University), Japan (Prof Yuji Uesugi, Waseda University) and New Caledonia (Prof Mathias Chauchat, University of New Caledonia). With more than 20 researchers worldwide, this international project is funded with £1.6million over three years in seven cases (Bosnia, Cyprus, Lebanon, New Caledonia, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, and South Africa). Mixed methods, it combines public opinion surveys and qualitative research case study research to investigate citizen inclusion in the adoption, operation and evolution of power-sharing settlements in divided and conflict-affected societies.

I have recently completed three research projects on the diversity of voices on constitutional change in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit. In collaboration with Professor Jennifer Todd (funded by the Irish Research Council), we designed a series of mini deliberative events with women's groups in local settings across Northern Ireland and the border region. Two other projects, in collaboration with Professor Jennifer Todd and Dr Dawn Walsh (UCD), funded by the Irish Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, mapped the diversity of voices on constitutional change to understand who these other groups are, how they approach constitutional debate, and how they would wish to participate in any future deliberative process. Our research drew on focus groups and interviews with groups largely disengaged from mainstream constitutional politics (women's groups, ethnic minorities, and youth). Research findings have been published in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Cooperation and Conflict, and Irish Studies in International Affairs.

I was previously Co-Investigator (with Prof Allison McCulloch, Brandon University) on an Insight Development Grant funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project investigated the normative and instrumental reasons why third-party mediators turn to power-sharing strategies during peace negotiations. We published our findings in Cooperation and Conflict and the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, as well as policy papers and conference presentations.

Funding and Grants

Negotiating Difference on a Shared Island? (Irish Research Council, 2021-2022) (with Professor Jennifer Todd, University College Dublin)

Mapping the Multiplicity of Voices on Constitutional Change in Northern Ireland post-Brexit (Irish Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2020-2021) (with Professor Jennifer Todd and Dr Dawn Walsh, UCD)

Giving Voice to Diversity: Plural Perspectives on Constitutional Change in the Republic of Ireland (Irish Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2020-2021) (with Professor Jennifer Todd and Dr Dawn Walsh, UCD) 

The External Governance of Power-Sharing Settlements (Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2017-2019) (with Dr Allison McCulloch, Brandon University)

Designing Good Governance in Two Post-War Societies (Bosnia and Lebanon) (Scottish Funding Council) (with Dr John Nagle, University of Aberdeen)

UN-EU Cooperation in Peacebuilding, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland

Teaching Responsibilities

• War and Peace in International Politics (4th year undergraduate)
• Introduction to Politics and International Relations (1st year undergraduate)
• Protest and Peace in Divided Societies, MSc Political Activism and Campaigning