Research Interests

Core research interests: The history of decolonisation; the social, cultural and political legacies of imperialism in Europe; humanitarianism; NGOs; post-imperial European identities; international politics; globalisation; modern Irish history. Current research: My first book, Ireland, Africa and the End of Empire: Small State Identity in the Cold War, 1955-75 (Manchester University Press, 2012), analyses how the shifting fortunes of a distant continent - Africa - played a vital role in shaping the policies and identities of a group of small Western states in a crucial period for the history of the Cold War. It shows how African voices and African concerns re-shaped the international agenda and with it radically re-shaped the role played by small and middling powers like Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. More recently, my research focus has turned to the history of humanitarianism, aid and development assistance. Having published several articles on different aspects of the official aid system, my current project, titled 'The humanitarian international: Aid, NGOs and Western society, 1968-85', explores the rise of humanitarian NGOs in Europe. Focussing on case studies of the aid sector in three European states - Britain, France and Ireland - that project is driven by a series of important questions: Why did this period provide such fertile ground for the emergence of the humanitarian sector? What factors drove its expansion? And what can the NGO experience tell us about the history of globalisation and its impact on Western society? In addition to my academic work, I have also been engaged in a number of other research projects. In 2011 I produced a review of Irish Aid and the Higher Education Authority's university research capacity building programme, Programme for Strategic Co-operation between Irish Aid and Higher Education and Research Institutes. I have also appeared on Newstalk and RTÉ to discuss aspects of my research and have previously worked as a researcher for KMF Productions' RTÉ television series, 'What in the World?', including documentaries on Angola (which I visited in 2007) and Laos.

 

Books

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) Ireland, Africa and the end of empire: Small state identity in the Cold War, 1955-75. Manchester: Manchester University Press. [Details]

Book Chapters

Kevin O'Sullivan (2013) 'A global nervous system: The rise and rise of humanitarian NGOs' In: Marc Frey, Soenke Kunkel and Corinna Unger (eds). International organizations and development, 1945 to 1990 [forthcoming]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Details]

Kevin O'Sullivan (2013) 'EC membership, development aid and Irish foreign policy' In: Thorsten Olesen and Helge Pharo (eds). Aid norms and aid realities: Foreign aid and its dynamics [forthcoming]. Oslo: Oslo University Press. [Details]

Kevin O'Sullivan (2005) 'The cause of nationality is sacred in ... Africa as in Ireland: Ireland and sub-Saharan Africa at the United Nations, 1960-75' In: Michael Kennedy and Deirdre McMahon (eds). Obligations and responsibilities: Ireland at the United Nations, 1955-2005. Dublin: IPA. [Details]

 

Peer Reviewed Journals

Kevin O'Sullivan (2013) 'Ah, Ireland. The caring nation: Foreign aid and Irish state identity in the long 1970s'. Irish Historical Studies, . [Details]

Kevin O'Sullivan (2011) 'History and the development aid debate in the Republic of Ireland'. Policy And Practice: A Development Education Review, 12 :110-123. [Details]

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) 'Irish diplomatic history in the twenty-first century: After the gold rush'. Irish Economic And Social History, 37 (1):105-116. [Details]

Kevin O'Sullivan (2007) 'Biafra to Lomé: The evolution of Irish government policy on official development assistance, 1969-75'. Irish Studies In International Affairs, 18 :91-107. [Details]

Other Journals

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) 'Across the gaping earth blasted by hatred: Concern in Bangladesh' History Ireland 18 (4) :46-49. [Details]

Kevin O'Sullivan (2006) 'The wind of change: Decolonisation in British West Africa' History Ireland 14 (4) :40-45. [Details]

                                                                                                                                                           

Honours and Awards

Year: 2013. Title: PI, 'Sources and Uses of Humanitarian History'

Year: 2013. Title: Co-investigator, International Research Network: 'Non-State Humanitarianism: From Colonialism to Human Rights'

Year: 2011. Title: IRCHSS CARA Postdoctoral Mobility Fellowship

Year: 2011. Title: Honorary Research Fellowship, University of Birmingham

Year: 2005. Title: IRCHSS Postgraduate scholarship

Year: 2009. Title: IRCHSS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Associations

Association: Irish Historical Society, Function/Role: Member

Association: Development Studies Association of Ireland, Function/Role: Member

Association: Development Studies Association, Function/Role: Member

Association: Voluntary Action History Society, Function/Role: Member

     

Conference Contributions

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) 'Feed the World' or start a revolution? NGOs, rights, aid and development, 1968-85. [Invited Oral Presentation], Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies Seminar, Queen's University Belfast , 13-DEC-12 - 13-DEC-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) History, IR Theory and Small State Identity in the Long 1970s. [Invited Oral Presentation], Transnational Ireland: Methodologies Workshop, University of Edinburgh , 07-DEC-12 - 07-DEC-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) From the 'search for justice' to 'Feed the World': NGOs, rights and development, 1968-85. [Oral Presentation], Humanitarianism: Past Present and Future, University of Manchester , 08-NOV-12 - 10-NOV-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan and Matthew Hilton (2012) Non-state humanitarianism: From colonialism to human rights. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Saving Humans: An inter-disciplinary workshop, University of Birmingham , 14-JUN-12 - 14-JUN-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) Of rice and men: Writing the history of non-governmental aid in the post-1945 era. [Invited Oral Presentation], Beyond the island: Transnational approaches to history, National University of Ireland, Galway , 20-APR-12 - 21-APR-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) Of rice and men sans frontieres: Aid, NGOs and Western society since 1945. [Invited Oral Presentation], Making connections: Transnational histories of welfare workshop, Oxford Brookes University , 21-MAR-12 - 21-MAR-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) Roundtable discussion on histories of non-state humanitarianism. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Non-state humanitarianism: Networking meeting, University of Manchester , 16-MAR-12 - 16-MAR-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) Transnational welfare history: where next? (panel discussant). [Invited Oral Presentation], Making connections: Transnational networks in European welfare history workshop, Oxford Brookes University , 29-JUN-12 - 29-JUN-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2012) A global nervous system: The rise and rise of humanitarian NGOs. [Invited Oral Presentation], Transnational Ireland Workshop, Trinity College Dublin , 08-SEP-12 - 08-SEP-12.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2011) Ah, Ireland. The caring nation: Foreign aid and Irish identity. [Invited Lecture], Irish Studies seminar series, Mater Dei Institute, Dublin , 08-MAR-11 - 08-MAR-11.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2011) The challenges of contemporary history in Ireland - roundtable discussant. [Invited Oral Presentation], Irish Historical Society seminar series, Boston College, Dublin , 25-JAN-11 - 25-JAN-11.

Kevin O'Sullivan, Juliana Adelman, Lisa-Marie Griffith, Christina Morin (2011) A symposium on web legitimacy. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Honest to blog, Trinity College, Dublin , 04-MAR-11 - 04-MAR-11.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2011) Small states, foreign aid and the Cold War. [Oral Presentation], War Studies seminar series, Trinity College Dublin , 17-FEB-11 - 17-FEB-11.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) People are dying NOW. Give us the money NOW. Foreign aid and Irish identity. [Oral Presentation], Contemporary Irish history seminar, Trinity College Dublin , 17-FEB-10 - 17-FEB-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) From Biafra to Vietnam: Towards a history of Irish foreign aid. [Invited Oral Presentation], Development Studies Centre seminar series, University College Dublin , 19-FEB-10 - 19-FEB-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) In need of assistance? The EC and Irish foreign aid. [Invited Oral Presentation], Aid norms and aid realities workshop, University of Copenhagen , 05-MAR-10 - 06-MAR-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) Postcolonial humanitarians? A history of Irish aid. [Invited Oral Presentation], Development Studies Association Ireland, annual conference, Trinity College, Dublin , 13-SEP-10 - 13-SEP-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan, Ciara Meehan (2010) Roundtable discussion on the practice of oral history. [Conference Organising Committee Member], In their own words, University College Dublin , 29-APR-10 - 29-APR-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) Concern for Africa: NGOs and the humanitarian response. [Invited Oral Presentation], Ireland and Biafra conference, National University of Ireland, Galway , 30-SEP-10 - 01-OCT-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) Born missionaries? Geldof, Robinson, aid and the Irish. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Ireland since 1966: New perspectives, University College Dublin , 11-NOV-10 - 11-NOV-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) Postcolonial humanitarians? A history of Irish foreign aid. [Invited Lecture], Trocaire internal staff seminars, Trocaire offices, Maynooth , 01-DEC-10 - 01-DEC-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) Ireland, Africa and the end of Empire. [Invited Lecture], St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, History Society seminars, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra , 15-DEC-10 - 15-DEC-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2010) While the actors are still on stage: Interviews and the history of the recent past. [Invited Oral Presentation], Private stories: Public histories, University of Limerick , 23-APR-10 - 23-APR-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan, Juliana Adelman, Lisa-Marie Griffith, Christina Morin (2010) A symposium on arts, culture, heritage and humanities online. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Blogging the humanities, Trinity College Dublin , 03-JUN-10 - 03-JUN-10.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2009) Unmistakably European: Irish state identity and the decolonisation of Africa. [Oral Presentation], The ends of empire conference, National University of Ireland, Maynooth , 18-JUN-09 - 20-JUN-09.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2008) Two way street: Ireland, EC membership, and development aid. [Invited Oral Presentation], Foreign aid: projects and policy in a historical and comparative context, University of Aarhus , 09-OCT-08 - 12-OCT-08.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2008) Like a colossus? Ireland and the emergence of independent sub-Saharan Africa. [Oral Presentation], History research seminar, National University of Ireland, Galway , 16-JAN-08 - 16-JAN-08.

Kevin O'Sullivan (2007) Aid to developing countries: Irish official development assistance in the 1970s. [Invited Oral Presentation], Who gives aid to whom, and why (and how much)?, University of Leiden , 09-NOV-07 - 09-NOV-07.

Committees

Committee : Voluntary Action History Society, main committee

Employment

Employer: University of Birmingham Position: Honorary Research Fellow (Visiting Fellow, 2011-2012)

Employer: Irish Aid / Higher Education Authority Position: Secondment

Employer: University College Dublin Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Education

Year 2008 Institution: Trinity College Dublin Qualification: Phd Subject: History

Year 2004 Institution: Trinity College Dublin Qualification: BACHELOR OF ARTS Subject: History and Political Science

Languages

Gaeilge:

French:

 

Community Engagement

Interview

'Talking History' (Newstalk)

The History Show (RTÉ Radio 1)

What in the World? (KMF Productions/RTÉ)

Pue's Occurrences: The Irish history blog

   

Teaching Interests

Areas of specialisation History of decolonisation; social, cultural and political legacies of empire; humanitarianism; Ireland and the wider world; construction of modern European identities; history of NGOs. Areas of interest Africa since 1870; twentieth century Ireland; globalisation; human rights; Britain since 1945; France since 1945.

Recent Postgraduates

 

Modules Taught

Semester 1 2012-13       : Media and Empire: Brave New World: Globalisation since 1945

Semester 1 2012-13       : Of Rice and Men: NGOs and Humanitarianism since 1945

Semester 2 2012-13       : Camden, Calcutta, Corofin: Locating Ireland, 1922-2002

Semester 2 2012-13       : The "global Irish": Constructing Irish identity, 1968-98

Internal Collaborators

Member, Geopolitics and Governmentality research cluster. Member, Power, Conflict and Ideologies research cluster.

External Collaborators

Professor Matthew Hilton (PI; University of Birmingham), Professor Bertrand Taithe (University of Manchester), Dr Maren Mohring (ZZF Potsdam), Dr Eleanor Davey (Overseas Development Institute, London) - key partners on AHRC-funded 'Non-state humanitarianism: From colonialism to human rights' network. Dr Enda Delaney (University of Edinburgh), Dr Sarah Roddy (University of Manchester), Dr Ciarán O'Neill (Trinity College Dublin), Dr Niall Whelehan (University of Edinburgh), Dr Jonathan Wright (Queen's University Belfast) - co-founding members of the 'Transnational Ireland' research network.