Fellows from the Mitchell Institute (Prof. Dominic Bryan, Dr Cheryl Lawther, and Dr Peter McLoughlin) completed a series of public events, symposia, partners visits, and discussion panels last week in both Boston and Washington, including a meeting with the Special Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III.

A key event was a roundtable discussion hosted by our good colleagues at the Irish Studies Progamme, Boston College, and entitled “Where next for Northern Ireland?”. As with all the US engagements, this built upon the “Agreement25” international conference that the Mitchell Institute helped organise at QUB in April. It allowed an update on the current political impasse in Northern Ireland as efforts are still being made to restore power-sharing. As well as being sponsored by the Mitchell Institute and Boston College, support came from the Irish Institute at QUB, the NI Bureau, and the UK and Irish Consulates in Boston, all of who were represented at the event.

 The Boston College discussion and other events on the tour were also supported by QUB’s AHSS Faculty, the North America Team, AEP, and Research and Enterprise at Queen’s, plus various US academic partners and the NI Bureau. The tour reached audiences of over 500 people, reconnected with various partners (American University, Boston College, UVA, Georgetown University, George Washington University, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Northeastern University and UMass Boston) and scoped further collaboration in research and educational programmes. 

Queen’s Academics involved in the tour included:

• Prof Richard Collins, Dean of Internationalisation AHSS
• Dr Peter McLaughlin, Director of Internationalisation HAPP
• Prof Dominic Bryan, HAPP
• Prof Olwen Purdue, HAPP
• Dr Cheryl Lawther, School of Law  

More details on some of the events is included here: Queen’s Events in the US Oct 2023

Government representatives and support included:

Sínghle FitzGerald (Irish Consule General), Eamon McConville (Deputy Director Northern Ireland Bureau), Andrew Elliott (Director Northern Ireland Bureau), and Tom Nickalss (Deputy Consul General).