The University of Manchester

Department Member, CRESC-ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change

Research Associate in Quantitative Analyses of Social and Cultural Change

About

I am interested in the spatial analysis of socio-cultural change, and specifically in the possibilities (and limitations) of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for this type of research.  Within CRESC, I was appointed to conduct quantitative analysis with a geographical slant under the objectives of Theme 5, 'Trajectories of Participation and Inequality', working alongside Professor Mike Savage (now of York) and Drs. Andrew Miles and Niamh Moore.  However, I am keen to explore the enormous potential for collaborations which exist in a diverse, inter-disciplinary environment and the potential of GIS applications in the field of sociology.  My previous experience has focussed on geographies of religious, economic and political difference making extensive use of census metrics.  I am keen to build upon that work at CRESC through the spatial analysis of alternative cultural indicators which may provide a more nuanced picture of the potential for interaction and mobility between different social groups.

Between 2008 and 2010 I was a Research Associate in the History Department at Lancaster University working on a major project entitled, 'Troubled Geographies: Two Centuries of Religious Division in Ireland', which was funded under the AHRC's 'Religion and Society' scheme.  'Troubled Geographies' was a collaboration between Lancaster (led by PI, Dr. Ian Gregory), the Geography Department at Queen's University Belfast (Drs. Paul Ell, Chris Lloyd and Ian Shuttleworth) and the Sociology Department at the City University of New York (Professor Andrew Beveridge).  The project had four core objectives:

· to add a Geographical Information System (GIS) to the Database of Irish Historical Statistics covering the period from 1861 to the present day;

· to use this GIS to conduct an analysis of the relationship between religious affiliation and a variety of socio-economic indicators over the long-term period;

· to conduct a detailed study of the relationship between religious identity and acts of violence during the recent Troubles in Northern Ireland;

· to establish a user-friendly interface to enable the public to interact with the data using the 'Social Explorer' system developed by Professor Beveridge at CUNY.

2011 should see a number of outputs emerge from 'Troubled Geographies', including a co-authored volume, which is contracted to Indiana University Press and will form part of their 'Spatial Humanities' imprint.  An associated website should go live around the same time that will allow users to explore the maps through embedded links to the 'Social Explorer' system.  In November 2010 'Troubled Geographies' was judged to be of 'outstanding' quality by the award body. 

I studied Irish history at University College Dublin and Irish Studies at Liverpool University before qualifying as a History teacher and working in schools in the UK and Japan. I undertook the MSc in Geographical Information Systems at the University of Leeds during session 2006-2007 with a particular focus on the interpretation of spatial data for social applications.

I am working on a doctoral thesis provisionally entitled, 'Vicarious Punishments: Religion, Space and Violence During the Northern Ireland Troubles', which explores and seeks to understand the spatial patterns of aggression during the conflict.  The title is appropriated from the 1922 Lenten Pastoral of Bishop MacRory, who used the term to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of sectarian violence which accompanied the partition of Ireland.  It is also a recurrent theme in my analyses of deaths from 1969.

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