My relationship with the Open University began several years ago when, as a mature student, I enrolled on an undergraduate course. Having completed my first degree, I was accepted onto the PhD programme and successfully completed my thesis in 2010.
My research for the thesis centred on Evangelicalism, inter Protestant relations and anti-Catholicism in Londonderry in the second half of the nineteenth-century. It also focused on ritual in loyalist marches and the concept of civil religion. The study is set in the wider context of incipient Unionism in Ulster and developments within Protestantism in Great Britain and the Empire a well as the United States of America in this period.
I have recently taken up the role of Research Associate on the Protestant-Catholic Conflict project which is part of the Global Uncertainties initiative. This builds on my previous research and considers the role of religion in local sectarian conflict in English cities. This element contributes to the wider remit of the project which examines the long term historical perspective of Protestant-Catholic conflict in order to contextualise the role of religion in international security.
