UCD School of Politics and International Relations Scoil na Polaitíochta agus Gnóthaí Idirnáisiúnta UCD

Ms Doris Nnenna Aja (Global Human Development)

Research Interests: Development studies; foreign aid; conflict; post-conflict stability; terrorism; counter-terrorism, international organizations 

Thesis Title: The Interplay between Foreign Aid Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Stability
Email: doris.aja@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Associate Professor Samuel Brazys

Mr Saleh Alharbi (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Politics of the Middle East; political reform; democratisation; Islamic political thought; human rights
Thesis Title: The resilience of Arab monarchies in the Middle East during the Arab uprising

Email: saleh.alharbi@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Vincent Durac

Mr Dave Banks (Politics & International Relations)

Thesis Title: The socio-psychology of inter-group conflict: A unifying theory of interstate and intrastate conflict

Email: dave.banks@ucdconnect.ie 
Supervisor: Dr Tobias Theiler

Ms Leticia Barbabela (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Corruption; anti-corruption policies; accountability; local governance; clientelism; political behaviour
Thesis Title: Federalist nuances of corruption: How federalism shapes perception of corruption in Brazil

Email: leticia.barbabela@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Eva Wegner
Co-Supervisor: Dr Samuel Brazys

Mr Isaac Bennett (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Military innovation; conflict studies; emergent technology; just war theory; airpower
Thesis title: Battlefields of the Future: How Military Innovation Will Change the Calculus of War in Asymmetrical Conflicts

Email: isaac.bennett@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Professor Ben Tonra

Ms Mary Brennan (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Women in politics; political parties; candidate selection; gender quotas
Thesis Title: Are successful gender quotas incompatible with party renewal? An empirical study of gender quotas, party selection procedures and gender outcomes

Email: mary.brennan.3@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Johan A Elkink
Co-Supervisor: Prof David Farrell

Ms Julia Canas Martinez (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Women's participation in political violence; foreign fighters; conflict studies 
Thesis Title: Women in political violence: The Western Muhajirat of the Islamic State

Email: julia.canasmartinez@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Stephanie Dornschneider

Mr Tony Casey (Public Policy)

Research Interests: Political theory; governance; regulation; policy networks; agent based modelling; social network analysis
Thesis Title: A Theory of Governance: The Micro-Foundations of Political Order

Email: tony.casey@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Johan A Elkink

Ms Barbara Dantas Mendes (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Japanese security policy, East Asia security issues, Japanese foreign policy, threat perception in East Asia, Japanese international performance
Thesis Title: The impact of threat perception to Japanese foreign policy's formulation in 21st century

Email: barbara.dantasmendes@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Alexander Dukalskis

Mr Luke Field (Politics & International Relations)

Thesis Title: Changing Marriage or Changing Minds?: A discourse analysis of the 2015 Referendum on Marriage Equality

Email: luke.field@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Professor David Farrell

Ms Dana Guy (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: political conflict; social media; Israel; Palestine
Thesis title: The medium and the message: Social media, virtual communities and narratives in intractable conflicts

Email: dana.guy@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Stephanie Dornschneider

Mr Junhyoung Lee

Research interests: Comparative authoritarianism; legitimation mechanism of authoritarian regimes; Post-communist countries in Asia; Korea politics; qualitative research methods 
Thesis Title: Survival and resilience of autocratic regimes after "third wave" of democratisation and legitimation mechanism of authoritarian regimes in North Korea

Email: junhyoung.lee@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Alex Dukalskis

Ms Xiaodong Li (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Internal migration; public policy, China's Hukou system reforms; subjective well-being; urbanisation in developing countries
Thesis Title: Decentralisation of Hukou reform in China and its impact on rural workers' subjective well-being
Email: xiaodong.li@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Graham Finlay

Mr Jesper Lindqvist (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: The Left-Right Dimension of Politics; Political Dimensions; Ideologies; Political Values; Political Competition
Thesis title: Why speak of Left and Right? In search of an underlying value dimension.

Email: jesper.lindqvist@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Professor David Farrell
Co-Supervisor: Dr Jos Elkink

Ms Marianna Lovato

Research interests: European Union foreign policy; Europeanisation of foriegn policy; Italian foreign policy; French foreign policy; European Union policy making 
Thesis Title: A turf battle between Italy and France: Policy-setting competition in EU foreign policy towards North Africa

Email: marianna.lovato@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Professor Ben Tonra

Mr James MacCarthy Morrogh (Politics & IR)

Thesis title: European foreign and security policy: A post-functionalist model of public opinion in the EU 

Email: james.maccarthymorrogh@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr James Cross

Mr Tyler McDonough (Politics & International Relations)

Thesis Title: The sectarian divide and rule tactics of the Syrian and Bahraini regimes during the 2011 Arab uprisings

Email: tyler.mc-donough@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Stephanie Dornschneider

Ms Sinead McGrath (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: Migration; transitional justice; gender mainstreaming; intersectionality; international refugee law; human rights mechanisms
Thesis Title: Internally displaced women: through a lens? A look at the transitional justice mechanisms that deal with internally displaced women in Colombia through discourse analysis

Email: sinead.mcgrath@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Melanie Hoewer

Mr Kevin McParland (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: South Asian politics; education and development; globalisation and development
Thesis Title: No country is an island: a comparative analysis of Sri Lanka's alliances with India and China, 2005-2015

Email: kevin.mcparland@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Andy Storey

Ms Emma Mathias (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: International development; food security; trade; mental health issues
Thesis Title: An investigation of the impacts of food insecurity on the mental health of populations in rural Lesotho

Email: emma.mathias@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Andy Storey

Ms Emma Murphy (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Gender, transitional justice, reconciliation
Thesis Title: The gendered healing gap

Email: emma.murphy1@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Dawn Walsh

Ms Orla Ni Cheallachain (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Critical security studies; political violence; states of emergency; peace studies; discourse analysis; the politics of method; gender in international relations
Thesis title: Countering the threat: An exploration of British counter-terrorism before and after the 'war on terror'

Email: orla.ni-cheallachain@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Vincent Durac

Research Profile

Ms Sadhbh O'Neill (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Normative political theory; the political and social theory of Jurgen Habermas; climate justice; democratic theory
Thesis title: Institutional barriers to effective climate governance: the case of the Paris Agreement

Email: sadhbh.o-neill@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Alexa Zellentin
Co-Supervisor: Dr Tobias Theiler

Mr Redmond Scales (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Authoritarian politics; behaviour, Aid and development; security and defence; US politics
Thesis title: Explaining variations in the stability of authoritarian regimes: The impact of foreign aid on subnational support

Email: redmond.scales@ucd.ie
Supervisor: Dr Alex Dukalskis

Mr Daniel Stairs (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Comparative political economy; international political economy; process tracing; finance; the aftermath of the global financial crisis
Thesis title: When do democracies with powerful banks succeed in imposing significant new regulations on those banks?

Email: daniel.stairs@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Aidan Regan

Mr Paul Turner (Politics & International Relations)

Thesis title: The next best steps: a decision theory for intergenerational equity

Email: paul.turner@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Alexa Zellentin

Ms Natalia Umansky (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: international security studies, international relations, securitization theory, social media, quantitative text analysis
Thesis title: Repost and like: Securitization theory in a globalized world.

Email: natalia.umansky@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr James Cross

Mr Radek Vana (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: IR theory, political psychology, war, cooperation, instinct
Thesis title: The drive theory of international relations: Why do wars happen?

Email: radek.vana@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Tobias Theiler

Mr Colm Walsh (Politics & International Relations)

Research interests: Democratic reform; political cynicism; populism; electoral behaviour
Thesis title: Political cynicism, populism and support for democratic reform

Email: colm.walsh@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Johan A Elkink

Mr Yao Wang (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: EU politics; EU's foreign policy towards China; America's influence on EU's decision-making
Thesis Title: US's factor in EU's foreign policy towards China after the Cold War

Email: yao.wang@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr James Cross

Ms Kejia Xue (Politics & International Relations)

Research Interests: China-Africa development relations; Malagasy society and politics
Thesis Title: Big fish in a small pond: entrepreneurial Chinese migrants in Madagascar. Historical trajectory, local perspective and socioeconomic impact
Email: kejia.xue@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor: Dr Andy Storey