Post-1995
Graduates from the PhD programme in Political Science
In 1995 the department initiated an integrated PhD programme incorporating, along with the submission of a doctoral thesis, a taught coursework element including methodological training alongside substantive topics. A number of outstanding theses – including two prize-winning theses – have been completed by doctoral students graduating from this programme. Thus far, the doctoral programme has featured in only one comedy sketch.
For further information, or to communicate any updates or amendments, please contact the department's Executive Officer for Postgraduate Courses at polgrad@tcd.ie
At the moment, the list of graduates from TCD's Political Science doctoral programme is as follows:
2023
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dr Eman Abboud |
|
Michelle D'Arcy | Teaching Fellow, Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin | ||
Dr Clara Faulí Molas | The role of environmental issues in European elections. Assessing whether European elections establish an electoral connection based on these issues. | Emanuel Coman | Clara was an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin. In February, Clara started a Postdoc at the University of Vienna. | ||
Dr Samuel Johnston | Choose Your Target Wisely: How the EU Shapes Nationalism in Contemporary Europe | Emanuel Coman | A postdoc in UCD as part of Joseph Lacey's ERC project, ELECT. This project examines the moral agency of candidates, campaign professionals, journalists, and citizens during election campaigns across the US, UK, Germany, and Italy. Previously, was a Teaching Fellow in European Comparative Politics at UCD. | ||
Dr Christian Oswald | Explaining and predicting the adoption, timing and location of terrorism in civil conflicts. | Thomas Chadefaux | At the Center for Crisis Early Warning, University of the Bundeswehr Munich. | ||
Dr Giulia Saydon | Fossil Fuel Interests in Environmental and Climate Policy: Evidence of Influence and Institutionalised Participation | Raj Chari |
2022
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr David Moore | Constantine Boussalis | Department of Foreign Affairs on Ireland’s foreign/diplomatic service. Currently posted to the Embassy of Ireland, Abu Dhabi, working as the Consul. | |
Dr Andrea Salvi | Explaining the variation in rebels violence in civil conflict: a collection of essays on reactive violence, synthetic events, and counterinsurgency practices | Thomas Chadefaux | Senior Analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies. He leads the analysis of cyber and digital issues, and he is project director of the multi-million EU Cyber Direct project. Before joining the EUISS he worked as project officer responsible for the scientific direction and the development of the DRMKC Risk Data Hub at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He also served as a human rights statistics consultant for the United Nations Missions in South Sudan. Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Luiss University (Rome) and as research affiliate at the Center for Research in Leadership, Innovation and Organization conducting research on cybersecurity, cyber-physical critical infrastructures, and high reliability organizations. He is specialised in quantitative methods and in computational social sciences, making use of cutting-edge data technologies to answer security and political questions. |
Dr Kristin Semancik | Europeanising Healthcare: The Effects of European Integration on Domestic Systems | Raj Chari | |
Dr Oguzhan Turkoglu | Essays on Forced Migration and Civil Conflict: Explaining the Effect of Rebel Groups on Displacement | Thomas Chadefaux | Postdoctoral Researcher at Hertie school in Berlin, Germany. |
Dr Kevin Lacourse | Just Peace and Presumptive Benefit: Using Fair Play Theory to Explain Political Obligation to Provisional Authority Arrangements | Peter Stone |
2021
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Eleonora La Spada | Costly Concessions: The Effect of Fragmentation of Self-Determination Movements on State Repression | Jesse Dillon Savage | |
Dr Marco Schito | Raj Chari |
2020
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Somya Chhabra | The Impact of Political Instability on Terrorism: A Mixed-Method Approach |
Thomas Chadefaux | |
Dr Alan Duggan | Campaign Spending and Electoral Integrity: Assessing the Plausibility of the Challenger Spending Efficacy Advantage in Irish & British Elections | Ken Benoit | Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham working as part of the OpenElections UK project. Using OpenElections data, he has contributed to articles published in journals such as 'Electoral Studies' and 'Politics'. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of Stirling working as part of a multi-university collaboration to create a database of third sector and civil society organisations in the UK. |
Dr Raluca-Maria Nicoara | Authoritarian diffusion at a distance? China’s impact on levels of and on citizens’ support for liberal-democracy in African states | Michelle D'Arcy | Working in analytics and data science, currently as a Senior Risk Analyst (office job in reinsurance field). |
2019
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Silvia Decadri | Constantine Boussalis | ||
Dr Stefan Müller | Accountability and the Democratic Mandate: Analysing Pledges, Party Competition, and Media Coverage |
Gail McElroy |
2018
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr David Barrett | The Effect of Observable Party Cohesion on Voter Choice in Liberal Democracies (Abstract) |
Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Lisa Keenan | The Underrepresentation of Women in Political Life: The Case of the Republic of Ireland | Gail McElroy | Assistant Professor in Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin. |
Dr Liam Kneafsey | Media Ownership, Differential Coverage and Effects on Public Attitudes: The Case of News Coverage of Labour Unions | Gail McElroy | Assistant Professor in Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin. |
2017
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Michele Crepaz | Investigating the Introduction and the Robustness of Lobbying Laws |
Raj Chari | Vice Chancellor's Illuminate Fellow at Queen's University Belfast |
Dr Andres Hinrichsen | Authoritarian Nostalgia in Post-Communist Europe | Kenneth Benoit | |
Dr Gavin Morrison | Duties & Obligations in relation to Human Rights | Peter Stone | |
Dr Miriam Sorace | Quality of Representation in the European Parliament | Gail McElroy |
2016
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Denise Carolin Huebner | The use of group litigation under EU law. |
William Phelan | |
Dr Stephen Erskine | ¿What difference does it make?¿: Electoral systems, representation and ideological congruence in advances industrial democracies. |
Gail Mc Elroy |
2015
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Mark Canavan | The impact of localism on public goods and services provision (Abstract) |
Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Mark Carpenter | Understanding Irish lobbying: a comparative case study | Raj Chari | Director of Regulatory & Corporate Affairs, EU & Ireland at Sky |
Dr Edmond Coughlan | Electoral violence in Sub-Saharan Africa: 1997–2010 | Ken Benoit | |
Dr Shqipe Mjekiqi | The impact of electoral systems on the behaviour of MPs in newly-democratised countries (Abstract) | Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Laura Schwirz | The impact of party leadership evaluations on vote choice: a comparative analysis | Michael Marsh |
2014
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Michael Courtney | The attitudes and social background of parliamentarians (Abstract) |
Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Kevin Cunningham | Explaining variation in support for the extreme right: a two-stage approach | Michael Marsh | A full time lecturer in politics at TU Dublin. Also runs a polling company, Ireland Thinks, in addition to some consulting work for political parties across Europe and polling companies in the UK. Worked in politics for a number if years in the UK and Ireland prior to that. |
Dr Caroline McEvoy | Representing Europe's citizens: an analysis of political representation in the European Union | Gail McElroy | |
Dr Carolina Plescia | Michael Marsh & Kenneth Benoit | Associate Professor at the University of Vienna, Department of Government. | |
Dr Seppe Verheyen | Michael Marsh |
2013
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Magdalena Staniek | Kenneth Benoit | ||
Dr Mirjam Allik | Women's descriptive representation in national parliaments | Michael Marsh | |
Dr Henrik Hermansson | Stakeholder influence in the European Commission's stakeholder consultations | Robert Thomson | |
Dr Catherine Riordan | Post-conflict governments 1975–2004: designing effective assistance | Kenneth Benoit |
2012
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Patrick Theiner | The politics of the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria | William Phelan | |
Dr Raimondas Ibenskas | Explaining party splits and mergers in Europe | Gail McElroy & Kenneth Benoit | |
Dr Justin Leinaweaver | Explaining the variation in state commitment to environmental treaties | Robert Thomson | |
Dr Adriana Bunea | Lobbying Brussels: interest groups' demands and networks in EU environmental policy | Robert Thomson & Gail McElroy | |
Dr Séin Ó Muineacháin | Explaining the persistence of factionalism in parties (Abstract) | Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Jennifer Brett | The effectiveness of development aid: the role of political institutions | Robert Thomson | |
Dr Thomas Daubler | The creation of party election manifestos: how context affects content | Ken Benoit | |
Dr James Cross | Decision-making in the European Union: explaining outcomes through negotiation and deliberation | Robert Thomson |
2011
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Matthew Wall | Ken Benoit | ||
Dr Maciej Gorecki | Habitual voting: origins and consequences | Michael Marsh |
2010
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Zbyszek Zalinski | Media agendas, public opinion and elections: evidence from Ireland and the United Kingdom | Michael Marsh | |
Dr Maria Laura Sudulich | Cyber-space oddity? An analysis of political parties’ websites and online campaigning (Abstract) | Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Jane Suiter | Chieftains delivering: political determinants of capital spending in Ireland 2001-07 | Michael Marsh |
2009
2008
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Nat O'Connor | The democratization of information: freedom of information and democracy in Ireland | Eddie Hyland | |
Dr Liam Weeks | We don't like (to) party: explaining the significance of independents in Irish political life (Abstract) | Michael Gallagher | |
Dr Vanessa Liston | Microcosms of democracy? Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and their impact on political attitudes and behaviour in Kenya | Ken Benoit |
2007
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor |
---|---|---|
Dr Alex Baturo | Presidential institutions and democracy: The political economy of succession and term limits | Ken Benoit |
Dr Brighid Brooks Kelly | An exploration of the relationship between consociationalism and stability in plural societies throughout the world (Abstract) WINNER of the 2008 PSAI Basil Chubb prize | Michael Gallagher |
Dr Garrett O'Boyle | 'How can they justify it to themselves?' Theories of justification and political violence | Eddie Hyland |
Dr Matt Kerby | Comparative ministerial turnover in Canada, 1867-2000 | Ken Benoit |
2006
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Karen Devine | Public opinion and Irish neutrality: a theoretical and empirical test of the 'rational public' hypothesis | Eddie Hyland & Michael Marsh | |
Dr Maura Conway | Reality bytes: cyberterrorism and terrorist 'use' of the Internet | Nalini Persram | |
Dr Pat Lyons | The Mirror and the Lamp: public opinion in the Republic of Ireland since 1970 | Michael Marsh | |
Dr Eoin O'Malley | Give them awkward choices: a theoretical and empirical investigation into the operation of prime ministerial influence on policy in 22 countries (Abstract) WINNER of the 2006 inaugural PSAI Basil Chubb prize | Michael Gallagher |
2005
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Eric Shea | European merger control policy: private interests, policy communities and entrepreneurship | Raj Chari | |
Dr Patrick Bernhagen | The political power of business: structure and information in public policymaking | Eddie Hyland | |
Dr Fiachra Kennedy | Stability and change in the choice available to voters: the set of potential leaders of government. An aggregate level study of eleven European countries, 1950-1999 | Michael Laver & Michael Marsh | |
Dr Gemma Carney | Intellectual and 'real world' feminism: mainstreaming international gender norms in the Republic of Ireland | Nalini Persram | |
Dr Anna Gwiazda | Europeanisation and Polish competition policy | Ken Benoit | |
Dr Susanna Pearce | The double-edged sword: the impact of religion on the intensity of political conflict | Ken Benoit |
2004
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Francesco Cavatorta | The international dimension of democratisation: the case of Algeria | Nalini Persram | |
Dr Lucy Mansergh | Do parties make a difference? The relationship between government intention and government output in the public policy sphere: the case of governments in Ireland 1977-1997 | Michael Laver | |
Dr Brendan Howe | Comparative military interventions: the question of legitimacy | Nalini Persram |
2003
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Jane O'Mahony | The European Union policy process: policy making in the Community pillar | Patrick Keatinge & Brigid Laffan |
2002
PhD Awarded To | Title of Doctoral Thesis | Supervisor | Where Are They Now |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Heinz Brandenburg | Agenda building: a time-series analysis of the changing issue priorities of parties and media during the 1997 general election campaign in the UK | Michael Marsh | |
Dr Jacqueline Hayden | Explaining the collapse of communism in Poland: how the strategic misperception of Round Table negotiators produced an unanticipated outcome | Ken Benoit | |
Dr Mary-Clare O'Sullivan | Messengers of the People? An analysis of representation and role orientations in the Irish parliament (Abstract) | Michael Gallagher | An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland's New Electoral Commission. |
Dr Karin Gilland Lutz | The responsible party model and European integration in Ireland | Ken Benoit & Michael Marsh |