Dr Niall Gilmartin

Overview

Dr Niall Gilmartin is Lecturer in Sociology and teaches modules on Conflict, Peace & Security and Qualitative Research methods, among others. Prior to joining Ulster University in 2019, he received his undergraduate and PhD from Maynooth University and obtained Post-Doctoral posts in University of Liverpool, and Trinity College Dublin.

He has researched and published extensively in gender and conflict, peacebuilding, gender-based violence in conflict and conflict transition, and dealing with the legacy of violence and harm. He has extensive experience of conducting qualitative research with those impacted by conflict-related violence in Northern Ireland. Niall’s previous research on female combatants, conflict and peacebuilding represents the first, in-depth exploration of conflict transition and combatant women in Northern Ireland.

His most recent research project on refugees and forced displacement during the Troubles is based on 88 in-depth interviews with victims and survivors and represents the first, in-depth examination of forced movement and its many after-effects in the North of Ireland. Dr Gilmartin has presented his research and work at several community events and festivals including Féile An Phobail and Newgate Arts Festival.
His current research, Women of the Borderlands, is a collaboration with Dr Theresa O’Keefe and Dr Dyuti Chakravarty (UCC) and explores women’s lived experience of the UK-Irish border during and after the Troubles. The project has secured significant funding from the HEA North-South Shared Island Research Programme.

Niall has published articles in journals such as International Feminist Journal of Politics, Capital & Class, International Journal of Transitional Justice, Space & Polity, and Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies. His books include Female Combatants After Armed Struggle: Lost In Transition? published in 2019 by Routledge; Northern Ireland: A Generation after Good Friday: Lost Futures and New Horizons in the 'Long Peace', co-authored with Colin Coulter, Katy Hayward & Peter Shirlow, published in 2021 by Manchester University Press; and Refugees and Forced Displacement in Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’: Untold Journeys (Co-authored with Brendan Ciaran Browne) published in 2022 by Liverpool University Press.

Research Opportunities