I ask 3 questions. Firstly, whether the EU PEACE 4 Programme design indicate a desire to engage young people in conflict transformation? Secondly, what conflict transformation related outcomes or processes result from PEACE 4 Programme youth programming? Thirdly, how does a young people priority/theme in the design and delivery of the PEACE 4 Programme contribute to the wider process of conflict transformation in the region? 

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Utilizing semi-structured interviews, this project will explore the interconnected nature of social and individual identity, voting behaviour, and political trends of this generation of young people.

My project is funded by a US Student Fulbright Grant.

I am from a small town in Indiana (USA), and my background is in communication studies. I studied abroad in Ireland during my undergraduate career and became fascinated in the history and culture of Northern Ireland. Communication studies often explores personal and social identity, and much of what I learned often brought Northern Ireland to mind. As the impacts of Brexit began to unravel in Northern Ireland, I became particularly curious about how young people viewed the issues and opportunities presented to them and how their identities impacted their voting behaviour. Queen's was the obvious choice for me given its academic standing and location in Northern Ireland, and receiving full funding through a Fulbright grant provided me with the incredible opportunity to conduct my research at QUB.

Pure Profile

Nigeria and South Africa are chosen as case study countries due to the magnitude of China's investment in their energy development, their significance in the African economy demographically and politically coupled with their vast energy assets both fossil fuels and renewable.
The study adopts a Qualitative Comparative approach to arrive at its objective.
The study will achieve an in-depth understanding of the variability of the energy politics dynamic and the interplay of foreign aid in energy development in the region; it will demonstrate China's energy financing approach in the Africa region, it will bring to bear the energy vision of the region in the light of a sustainable energy future; it will deliver the opportunities and challenges of energy performance and energy supply chain of the region.

I am from Ghana. I have a background in Building Quantities and Construction Economics and a Master of Law in Energy Law and Policy. Queens University attracted me because of the research profile of the school and the researchers in the school as it aligned with my field of interest. Significantly, the school has a solid and supportive research structure and circle with knowledgeable and expert tutors.

2001 to 2007 was a critical time, not only for the Northern Ireland peace process but also internationally, with the aftermath of 9/11 and America’s response dominating events. It is within this context that I will examine the State Department’s organisational framework, determining how the sources and operations of decision-making authority affected NI and impacted wider geopolitical events. 

I completed my undergraduate studies at Trinity College, Dublin in Modern Irish (minor) and Sociology (major). I then went on to complete my MA in International Security and Conflict Studies at Dublin City University before undertaking my PhD studies in Politics at Queens.

My research at undergraduate and MA level focused on women in Northern Ireland and concepts of identity and agency.  My PhD research however, includes an international perspective.  It takes as its case the agency of women from ‘caliphate’ territories governed by Daesh in Syria and Iraq (2013-2016).

In this context, my thesis aims to critically analyse the representations of women that are constructed through UK state and media discourse, as well as Daesh discourses.  As I discussed, it takes as its case the agency of women living in the ‘caliphate’ territories governed by Daesh in Syria and Iraq (2013-2016).  I work from the frame of feminist theorizations of war and security to examine the function and impact of these discourses.  Specifically, I aim to analyse their role in reproducing and legitimizing patriarchal constructions of social reality during periods of war and violent conflict.  Moreover, I employ narrative analysis to examine the ways in which women’s everyday lives and their perceptions, social attitudes and identities are impacted and informed by the discourses outlined.  My research questions are: How are women and their ‘roles’ portrayed in UK state and media discourse, as well as Daesh discourses?  How do these depictions influence social practices, attitudes, and power relations in relation to women?  What impact do such discourses have on women and how are they negotiated and challenged by women?

The research is guided by the critical hypothesis that the presence of machines, such as cameraphones and body-worn cameras, have agency that deeply affects human relationships. The project seeks to uncover how these relations ebb and flow through human assumptions about and usages of these technologies.

My project is funded by Leverhulme  Interdisciplinary Network on Cybersecurity and Society (LINCS) https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/mitchell-institute/Study/LINCSDoctoralTrainingProgramme/

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This thesis will question if populism is a central component of democracy and what a ‘true democrat’ is.

M.A. Politics, Queen’s University, Belfast (2016)

B.A. History and Politics, Northumbria University (2014)

Awards:

Department for the Economy (DfE) Postgraduate Research Studentship

To do this she takes a feminist perspective in Critical Security Studies to expand on the literature of emancipation and security.

Katie is originally from California, where she completed her BA in International Relations and Anthropology/Sociology at Mills College in Oakland, CA. She later came to Queen’s University Belfast where she earned her MA with Distinction in Violence, Terrorism and Security. 

Taking Northern Ireland, the Philippines, and Colombia as comparative case studies, it will examine the nuanced relationships between state institutions/agencies and counterinsurgent paramilitaries (such as the Ulster Volunteer Force, Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units, and Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia) and how and why these relationships vary between cases and over time.

Pure Profile

This project will follow on from the research undertaken for my dissertation as a requirement of the MA in Violence, Terrorism, and Security at Queen’s University Belfast. While my MA dissertation sought to present a hybrid theory of securitization in unconventional spaces this project will seek to understand discourses of threat and how they transcend into practice through industrial actors. This will primarily be through a study of protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs to identify how and why they seek to influence the logistical practices of counter-piracy practice? 

The project will no doubt explore further questions such as to how the significant role of private businesses affects understandings of sovereignty in international relations? How do states ensure they are responsible for maintaining a criminal justice system in the maritime domain? What is the referent object/securitization dynamic between key actors (private business, P&I clubs, shipping companies, states, international organizations)? What/Who is the law of the sea protecting and why? The project will also seek to identify methods of best practice in counter-piracy regimes and allow for the voices of seafarers and industry to be addressed throughout. 

‌All of these questions and more will contribute to the projects interdisciplinary nature and a mixed methods approach that will allow the exploration of international trade law, maritime law, security studies, piracy studies and international relations in one of the most exciting, unconventional spaces of global governance. 

Given the expansive nature of the political and legal implications of “Brexit” this PhD will engage with a diverse range of literatures including constitutional theory, the future of UK devolution, European studies and, of course, the history and development of Northern Ireland.

Although located in the Politics department of HAPP as this work involves tracing comprehensive changes in UK law and the application of legal theory to the research topic, the PhD draws on and adds to both political and legal scholarship.

Prior to my current venture in higher education, I studied for a BA Honours degree in Politics at Newcastle University and later completed an MA in Comparative Ethnic Conflict at QUB.

In between periods of study I have worked in a number of different roles in various offices across the political sphere and in the public sector. My employment history includes a year of working for a Liberal Democrat MP in Westminster, six months in the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels and, most recently, a year working for an all-island policy think tank in Belfast.

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