School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies

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Irish School of Ecumenics,
Loyola Institute Building,
Trinity College Dublin

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Dr. David Mitchell

Dr. David Mitchell

Associate Professor, School of Religion

Biography

David Mitchell's research interests are in peacebuilding and reconciliation, Northern Ireland politics, and the comparative meaning of the Irish peacemaking experience. He is co/author or editor of five books, and has published numerous book chapters and articles in leading international journals. He is Course Coordinator of the MPhil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, based in Belfast, and teaches on the modules Conflict and Peace in Northern Ireland, Research Skills, Contemporary Conflict and Peacemaking: Global Perspectives, and Dynamics of Reconciliation. He is, or has recently completed, co-supervising PhD research on transitional justice in Colombia (Adler Pruitt), the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (Eugene Lee), civil society peace efforts in Korea and Ireland (Donghyuk Kwon), peacebuilding in Sudan (Megan Greeley), and young people and consociationalism in Northern Ireland (Sarah Wallace). He is regularly consulted by the international media on developments in Northern Ireland and speaks frequently to international groups of policy makers and civil society organisations on peacemaking in Ireland. He has written or co-written op-eds in the Irish Times, Irish Independent, The Times (Ireland) and the Huffington Post, as well as several articles in The Conversation. With Dr Dong Jin Kim, he has worked on a series of academic and practitioner conferences and field visits between Ireland and Korea since 2016. From 2024, he is a member of the editorial board of the journal Irish Political Studies. After a BA in History and Philosophy and MA in Peace and Conflict Studies, David completed a doctorate in Politics at Ulster University (Magee) where he also taught. Prior to joining Trinity, he worked on projects based at the University of Aberdeen, Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health, and Ulster University, carrying out qualitative and quantitative research among politicians, ex-combatants, religious activists, top-level and grassroots sports organisations, LGB, ethnic minority and transgender groups, and the general public.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • David Mitchell and Sarah Wallace, Peace, Temporality, and Generations: How Young People Make Sense of Northern Ireland"s Long Peace Process, Sociology, 2025, p1 - 18Journal Article, 2025, URL
  • Strand One and Political Cooperation in Northern Ireland in, editor(s)Etain Tannam , British-Irish Relations in the Twenty-First Century, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2024, pp83 - 112, [David Mitchell and Etain Tannam]Book Chapter, 2024
  • Dong Jin Kim, David Mitchell, and Gillian Wylie, Peace and Conflict in a Changing World: Key Issues in Peace Studies, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024Book, 2024, URL
  • Dong Jin Kim and David Mitchell, `You realise we"re not the only ones stuck living like this": comparative learning, international partnerships, and civil society peace education in conflict-affected societies, Alternatives, 2023, p283 - 297Journal Article, 2023, URL
  • David Mitchell, The international significance of the Northern Ireland peace process: Revisiting the lessons twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement, Politics, 2023, p1 - 16Journal Article, 2023, URL
  • David Mitchell, Rescuing reconciliation: finding its role in peace research and practice, Third World Quarterly, 2023, p1737 - 1753Journal Article, 2023, URL
  • David Mitchell, Dan Gudgeon and Dong Jin Kim, Sport and strategic peacebuilding: Northern Ireland and Korea compared, Peacebuilding, 10, (1), 2022, p37 - 50Journal Article, 2022, DOI , URL
  • Sport for peace: Comparing contributions and constraints in Ireland and Korea in, editor(s)Dongjin Kim, David Mitchell , Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea, Routledge, 2022, pp140 - 157, [David Mitchell, Dan Gudgeon]Book Chapter, 2022
  • Peace agreements and elite-level peacemaking in Ireland and Korea: governance, security and context in, editor(s)Dong Jin Kim and David Mitchell , Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea, Routledge, 2022, pp80 - 97, [Dong Jin Kim and David Mitchell]Book Chapter, 2022, DOI
  • Facets of the unionist experience since 1998: from the Agreement to Brexit and beyond in, editor(s)Olivier Coquelin, Brigitte Bastiat, and Frank Healy , Northern Ireland: Challenges of Peace and Reconciliation Since the Good Friday Agreement, Bern, Peter Lang, 2022, pp11 - 28, [David Mitchell]Book Chapter, 2022
  • Peace processes and comparative research on Ireland, Korea and beyond in, editor(s)Dong Jin Kim and David Mitchell , Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea, Abingdon, Routledge, 2022, pp1 - 20, [Dong Jin Kim and David Mitchell]Book Chapter, 2022, DOI
  • Dong Jin Kim and David Mitchell, Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea, Routledge, 2022, 1 - 203ppBook, 2022, DOI , URL
  • Gladys Ganiel and David Mitchell, The Politics of Conflict and Transformation: The Island of Ireland in Comparative Perspective, Abingdon, Routledge, 2022, 1 - 170ppBook, 2022
  • Irish Political Studies, 36, 1, (2021), Gladys Ganiel, David Mitchell, [eds.]Journal, 2021
  • David Mitchell, Comparative consultation: the theory and practice of 'sharing lessons' between peace processes, Cooperation and Conflict, 56, (1), 2021, p65 - 82Journal Article, 2021, URL
  • David Mitchell, Learning from peace processes: theory, practice, and the case of Northern Ireland, Government and Opposition, 56, (4), 2021, p705 - 721Journal Article, 2021, URL
  • David Mitchell, Ian Somerville, Owen Hargie and Victoria Simms, Can sport build peace after conflict? Public attitudes in transitional Northern Ireland, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 45, (5), 2021, p464 - 483Journal Article, 2021, URL
  • Political Parties in Northern Ireland and the Post-Brexit Constitutional Debate in, editor(s)Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg, Jo Murkens , The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp86 - 107, [David Mitchell]Book Chapter, 2021, TARA - Full Text
  • Sports Promotion and the Construction of 'Irish' Identity: Nationalism, Social Exclusion and the Gaelic Athletic Association in, editor(s)Ian Somerille, Lee Edwards, Oyvind Ihlen , Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History, London, Routledge, 2020, [Ian Somerville, David Mitchell and Owen Hargie]Book Chapter, 2020
  • David Mitchell and Megan Miller, Reconciliation through language learning? A case study of the Turas Irish language project in East Belfast, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42, (2), 2019, p235 - 253Journal Article, 2019, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • David Mitchell, The cycle of insecurity: reassessing the security dilemma as a conflict analysis tool, Peace and Conflict Studies, 26, (2), 2019, p1 - 25Journal Article, 2019, TARA - Full Text
  • From intractable conflict to global model of peacemaking: interpreting the Northern Ireland transition in, editor(s)Institute for Trans-division and Border Studies, Shinhan University. , Irish Peace Process and the Korean Peninsula, Seoul, South Korea, Ulryuk, 2019, pp106 - 136, [David Mitchell]Book Chapter, 2019
  • David Mitchell, Northern Ireland's Twenty Years of Troubled Peace, Current History, 117, (797), 2018, p89 - 95Journal Article, 2018, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • David Mitchell, Non-nationalist politics in a bi-national consociation: the case of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 24, (3), 2018, p336 - 347Journal Article, 2018, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • David Mitchell, Etain Tannam, and Sarah Wallace, The Agreement's impact on political co-operation, Irish Political Studies, 2018, p283 - 310Journal Article, 2018, URL
  • Owen Hargie, David Mitchell and Ian Somerville , 'People have a knack for making you feel excluded if they catch on to your difference: transgender experiences of exclusion in sport'. , International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52, (2), 2017, p223 - 239Journal Article, 2017, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • David Mitchell, Ian Somerville and Owen Hargie, Sport for Peace in Northern Ireland? Civil Society, Change and Constraint after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 18, (4), 2016, p981 - 996Journal Article, 2016, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • John Brewer, David Mitchell, Gerard Leavey, Northern Ireland: Religion and Transitional Justice, Conflict Studies Quarterly, 14, 2016, p74 - 91Journal Article, 2016
  • David Mitchell, Politics and Peace in Northern Ireland: Political Parties and the Implementation of the 1998 Agreement. Manchester: Manchester University Press., Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2015Book, 2015, URL
  • John Brewer, David Mitchell, Gerard Leavey, Ex-combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Role of Religion in Transitional Justice , Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan , 2013Book, 2013
  • David Mitchell, Sticking to their guns? The politics of arms decommissioning in Northern Ireland, 1998-2007, Contemporary British History , 24, (3), 2010, p341 - 361Journal Article, 2010
  • David Mitchell, Conditions for peace in Northern Ireland and Israel-Palestine, Peace Review, 22, (3), 2010, p280 - 287Journal Article, 2010, URL
  • David Mitchell, Cooking the fudge: constructive ambiguity and the implementation of the Northern Ireland Agreement, 1998-2007, Irish Political Studies, 24, (3), 2009, p321 - 336Journal Article, 2009, URL

Research Expertise

Politics,