Ciara Aucoin, (PhD Researcher)

I am a third year PhD candidate and EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie/DTA Co-Fund Fellow in the School of Appiled Social and Policy Sciences (ASPS) at Ulster University studying post-conflict public order policing in Northern Ireland. As part of my PhD, I completed 8 months of field research in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry conducting in-depth elite interviews with active and retired police officers, representatives of statutory bodies, politicians, and local community activists. In my research, I explore the themes of conflict legacy and police legitimacy, community policing and post-conflict peacebuilding.

Prior to my PhD studies, I worked for ten years in conflict and crime research in France, South Africa, and the United States. In this period, I've worked as research consultant for the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), Civi.Pol, UNESCO, and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). From 2016-2019, I was a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, South Africa, where I led a research team focused on conflict analysis and organised crime and published 11 policy publications. I am fluent in French. 

I was awarded an Associate Fellowship, Higher Education Authority, UK (AFHEA) in June 2021 after completing First Steps to Supporting Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Award (FST) at Ulster University. 

I have taught weekly tutorials as a Teaching Assistant (TA) on the following Ulster University course modules: 

o   Introduction to the Study and Practice of Politics (1^st year module; 2020-2021)

o   Crime and Criminal Justice (1^st year module; 2020-2021)

o   Global crime (3^rd year module; 2020-2021)

• Post-conflict stability and peacebuilding 
• Community policing 
• Police reform
• Conflict legacy and community activism