Power and organizations, with a particular focus on work organizations. I am interested in issues of gender, identity, subjectivity in relation to these areas.

EU Foreign Human Rights Policy to Israel: An Evaluation of the EU's Role in International Relations as a Normative Power

There has been much discussion on the issue of whether the European Union is a novel or conventional polity in world politics. In a recent piece of work, Ian Manners (2002) suggested a theory of ’Normative Power Europe’ as a means of looking at the EU as a novel power which is able to form norms in international relations. This research will attempt to test this theory through an empirical examination of the EU’s foreign human rights policy in relation to Israel. It will first consider the issue of the ’Gaza Siege’ as a case in which to analyse what happened there in the area of human rights since Israel imposed the siege. Then it will examine the EU’s foreign policy on the human rights violations there. Finally it will conclude with what could be said about the EU as a normative power in international relations, considering its behaviour in this area of enquiry.

The objective is to understand the empirical realities that immigrants are facing and on a macro level to understand the governmentality lying behind this policy. This investigation will be supported by Foucault's theory of Governmentality, and later Mitchell Dean's expansion of this theory as a 'problem-centred and present-orientated' concept. The purpose of availing of Foucault's concept of governmentality is that it will support research into the implicit mentality, art and regime of government, which acts as a tacit frame of reference for the administration of government as regards immigration.

This project explores the relationship between social change and emotional habitus in late modernity, particularly Ireland. Due to the speed and scale of change that has occurred here Ireland is an ideal site for such research yet the emotional aspects of change remain unexplored. One of the key objectives is to suggest that many of the problematic social and sociological issues that have emerged in light of this rapid change may be rooted in an altered affective constitution. In doing so, it draws on insights from social theory (Elias, Bourdieu) the sociology of emotions, social psychology and social neuroscience. (PS: Mark Haugaard/Kevin Ryan) (Government of Ireland Scholar)

This research sets out to understand processes of effective leadership within an Irish East Galway community (Doughiska, Roscam and Ardaun), with a view to deepening our understanding of effective leadership relationships and patterns using concepts involving the ideas of wisdom. Case studies of leaders who exemplify wisdom leadership will also be conducted to assess how processes of integrative (wise) leadership can bring value to Irish leadership situations. (PS: R. Edmondson) (IRCHSS-funded Scholar)

This project will relate concepts of socialisation to nationalism by applying the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu to the theoretical work of Ernest Gellner on Nationalism. I will also examine the contributions made by Norbert Elias, Benedict Anderson and Michael Billig, to define how Nationalism is internalised. Elias and Bourdieu cited that the education system, mass media and civil organisations acted as the foremost tools of socialisation. Scholars of nationalism such as E. Hobsbawn pronounce the making of national heroes and myths as one of the primary factors that unite a population as a nation. Therefore by contrasting text books from different stages in Ireland’s history it should become apparent how the portrayal of pivotal events and figures is adjusted to reflect the changes within the political and social climate. (Government of Ireland Scholar).

Interpreting crime in periods of conflict: a gender analysis of concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and the Bosnian War (1992-1995)

My project will provide a gender analysis of conflict, using concentration camps as the main site of inquiry. Through qualitative research, it will determine how conflict, in the form of concentration camps used during the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and the Bosnian War (1992-1995), impacts on gendered experiences in terms of perpetration, victimisation, and specifically the identification and criminalisation of acts.