Dr Giada Lagana

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Research Interests 

My research interests lie within the fields of contemporary Irish Politics, Governance and Peacebuilding. I also know how to adapt my research when the opportunity arises, as demonstrated by my work on civil society approaches to addressing unemployment among former paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

Current Research

As part of my Leverhulme Fellowship, I am working on my second monograph. This studies the genesis of civil servants’ role in transforming Northern Ireland from a site of conflict to a site of peacebuilding.

Selection of Funding Awards (in brief)

Awarded £93,817.00 by the Leverhulme Trust (the Trust contributing 50% of the total salary cost and up to £6,000 per annum in research expenses to further research activities) to develop the project ‘Socio-Spatial Governance between these Islands’. 

Coordinator for the Erasmus+ - Jean Monnet Activities Support to Institutions and Associations grant worth €39.817. This project consolidated and expanded a range of EU-cantered activities pursued by the Irish Association for Contemporary European Studies (IACES). The overarching theme is the evolving Future of Europe debate. 

Awarded £4,983.00 by the GW4 Development Award to develop the project ‘The past, present and future of History and Politics in Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland network’ (PPF NI/ROI).

Awarded £2,000 by the Centre for Law and Society, Cardiff University (Jan. 2023) to organise a week of events and workshops to mark the 25^th anniversary of the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Awarded £8,000 by the Innovation for All, Cardiff University (September 2021 to December 2022) for the ‘Developing paths to strengthening networks of statutory and civil society sector in the field of youth (un)employment' project. 

Awarded €15,000 by the Communicating Europe Initiative of the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade to organise the conference ‘Relationships on these islands: the European Union peacebuilding experience’, which took place in September 2021. The conference provided a public forum in which to discuss theoretical and practical issues confronting cross-border relationships, Anglo-Irish relationships and the peace process in the context of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.

Awarded a Simone Veil Fellowship worth €10,000 by the Project House Europe (PHE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) to undertake the project ‘Tracing the origins of European Union (EU) approaches to peacebuilding: the European Community (EC) and the Northern Ireland Hunger Strikes’ (May – July 2021). This project examined the EC’s response to the Irish Republican hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981.

Awarded £1,000 by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to organise events for the Festival of Social Sciences: ‘Youth unemployment and civil society under devolution: a sub-state comparison’ took place in 2021, while ‘Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives’ took place in 2020.

Awarded €9,000 by the Reconciliation Fund of the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade to organise the conference ‘The European Union and the Northern Ireland peace process’ at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG - April 2018). Fully responsible for the organization, the management and the advertisement campaign prior to the event (including Twitter and Facebook accounts and the design of a dedicated website). Please visit: https://eupeacenuig.weebly.com. The grant was integrated by a UACES small grant event worth £1,000; and contributions from the Moore Institute (€2,000); the Whitaker Institute (€3,000) and the Registrar Office (€1,000).

Awarded €65,000 by the Galway Doctoral Research Scholarship at NUIG (€15,250 per annum, four years fellowship) to complete the doctoral thesis ‘The Europeanisation of the Northern Ireland peace Process’.

Guest Lectures (most recent)

(Forthcoming, April 2024) Invited by Dr Emanuele Massetti to deliver the presentation ‘Metagovernance: understanding the changing role of Anglo-Irish networks in the path leading to the Northern Ireland peace process’, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale. 

(2023) Ireland and the European Union after Five Decades of Membership: from the periphery to the centre of Europe? Ivited by the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, in conjunction with the Irish Institute for International and European Affairs (IIEA), the Maynooth University Social Science Institute and the Department of Sociology.

(2023) The Irish Embassy in Rome (Italy). Invited by the Irish Ambassador in Rome, Patricia O'Brien, to deliver a talk on ‘#EU50: 50 years of Irish membership of the European Union’ at Villa Spada.

(2022): ‘Il processo di pace Nordirlandese. Il ruolo della UE all’ombra della Brexit. Incontro con Giada Laganà’, Partito Democratico (PD) Italiano.

Book Launces

(2021) - The European Union and the Northern Ireland Peace Process. The Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) World Convention. Book panel, Columbia University (NY). Invited speakrs: with Prof. Niall Ó Dochartaigh (NUIG), Prof. Daniel Wincott (Cardiff University); Prof. Timothy J. White (Xavier University) and Dr Robert Sata (CEU) 

(2020) - The European Union and the Northern Ireland Peace Process; Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University. Guest Speakers: Prof. Niall Ó Dochartaigh (NUIG), Prof. Daniel Wincott (Cardiff University), Dr Mary C. Murphy (University College Cork) and Mr Carlo Trojan (former Secretary General of the European Union Commission). 

Teaching

Undergraduate level

PL9380 - Parliamentary Studies

PL9340 - Politics in Practice: Work Placement Module Application (Module Convenor)

PL9246 - The Politics of Borders: Conflict and Cooperation in Modern Europe (Module Convenor)

PL9338 - Sex, Drugs & Public Policy

Masters

PLT062 - Research Methods: Approaches to Knowledge.

PLT449 - Multilateralism and International Law.  

PLT453 - The Politics of International Intervention in conflict and peace. (Module Convenor)

PLT432 - Themes and Debates in Contemporary Comparative Politics.

I also supervise various undergraduate and masters students for their dissertations.

Biography

Qualifications 

• PhD in Political Science - National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. Awarded a four-year full-time 'Galway Scholarship Reseach Scheme' by the School of Political Science and Sociology. 2018.
• MA in International Relations (18/20), Université de Nantes et La Rochelle. 2013
• BA in Literature and Philosophy, Università degli studi di Pavia (Italy), 2011

Certificates 

• Cardiff University Education Fellow and HEA Fellow. 2022

• Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Practice – National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG). 2017

• DAEFLE: diplôme d’aptitude à l’enseignement du français langue étrangère (professional qualification for teaching French as a foreign language) - Institut Universitaire des Langues - Français Langue Étrangère (IUL-FLE), Université de La Rochelle. 2010

Visiting Appointments 

• Visiting Scholar, Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkely (California). Fall 2024

• Visiting Researcher, Roskilde School of Governance, Roskilde Universitet (Danmark). Spring 2024

• Visiting Lecturer, European Summer Programme (ESP), Universite` Catholique de Lille (France). 2022
• Simone Veil Fellow, Project House Europe (PHE), Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen (Germany). 2021

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2021. 
• President of the Irish Association for Contemporary European Studies. 

Academic positions

Committees and reviewing

Peer-reviewer

• Routledge Studies on the European Union and Global Order series,
• European Policy Analysis;
• Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy,
• Blog ‘Ideas on Europe’. 

Committees 

Reviewer of applications to the Taith Research Mobility Programme - College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences – Cardiff University.