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 policy 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 years 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.

Besides this book, I have also created an exhibition of visual materials from my research on ‘peace walls’ built in Northern Irish cities by British military and governmental actors, from 1969 onwards. This exhibition features photographs of the ‘peace walls’ and data graphics visualising their effects for spatial mobility. I have shared the exhibition via three showcases over the last three years. Across these three showcases, over 33,000 people have been able to access and engage with my research, with 75% of these saying the materials changed their understandings of Britain’s involvement in the Troubles. I have created a digital version of my exhibition on this website, which you can access at this page.

I am currently working on grant proposals for new research to explore the colonial origins and dimensions of British military, intelligence, and diplomatic interventions during the Northern Ireland Troubles.