My main research interests include young people and political participation as well as 'communities in conflict' and the processes of post conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. Additionally, I am interested in the role of 'emotions' in the realm of conflict and within acts of communal and political violence. I was a member of the 'Youth Work in Contested Spaces' Project which was a joint project with the University of Ulster, Youth Council for Northern Ireland and Public Achievement. This was a three year partnership project involving academics, policy makers and practitioners. The project involved researching and sharing ideas on working with young people in conflict and post conflict environments. This project has taken my research to South Africa, Israel and Palestine, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia as well as Northern Ireland. Previously I was a Junior Research Fellow at the Instiute of Irish Studies at the Queen's University of Belfast as well as teaching Sociology and Irish Studies at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham, UK and Community Studies at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Before entering higher education as a lecturer I worked on many anti-sectarian and diversity projects as a community education organisor in Belfast, Northern Ireland throughout the period of conflict. I am now a lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Southampton,UK.