Current projects

I currently hold the position of ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Sheffield (grant value £130,000). I am writing a book on the histories of British security politics in Northern Ireland, 1920-1998. This book explores the emergence of new counter-terrorism and peacebuilding programmes in Northern Ireland, and across the wider UK, during the period of the so-called ‘Troubles’. The book traces connections between the understandings of Troubles violence which informed these schemes’ design and legitimation, on one hand, and longer-term patterns of British political discourse on Northern Ireland, on the other. The book thus situates Troubles-era security politics in relation to the longue durée of Anglo-Irish relations.

Besides this book, I am also preparing an exhibition of visual materials from my research on ‘peace walls’ built in Northern Irish cities by British military and governmental agents, from 1969 onwards. These materials include data graphics visualising effects of the peace walls’ construction, in reducing mobility across cities like Belfast. They also include photographs and sketches of murals painted onto peace wall infrastructures, by communities through which they run. The exhibition I am organising is an expanded version of a similar showcase I led in Sheffield in 2023 - which was hosted at two venues, and viewed by over 30,000 people.

Finally, I am currently working on an article assessing the uses of concepts from quantum mechanics in political science/international relations; as well as on a series of conference and grant proposals exploring colonial dimensions of British military, intelligence, and diplomatic interventions during the Northern Ireland Troubles.