Professor Philip McDermott

Overview

Philip McDermott is Professor of Sociology with teaching interests in the areas of Irish society, cultural and media studies, and social research methods. He acquired Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) in 2018. He was also awarded Ulster University’s Distinguished Research Fellowship for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in 2022.

Philip teaches on the undergraduate programme in Sociology on the Belfast Campus and on the ‘Patients, Populations and Society’ Strand of the Graduate Entry Medical School.

His research is concerned with the relationship between the state and the heritage of minority groups – especially migrant and linguistic minorities.

He is particularly interested in the intersection between social policy and cultural heritage policy as a space for empowerment.

A further strand of Philip’s work relates to language and identity in public settings. He has an interest in the perception of migrant languages in public places and the ways that government and communities deal with linguistic diversity.

Philip has presented at multiple international conferences, including keynote presentations at UCL, Cambridge and Humak University (Helsinki). His 55+ publications include a monograph, several edited collections and book chapters. His research has appeared in high impact international peer reviewed journals.

Professor McDermott served a term as editor of the Irish Journal of Sociology (Sage) (2020-2023) and is currently an editor of the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures (Berghahn).

Philip’s research has been funded by the British Academy, the National Trust, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). He held a prestigious Charlemont Scholarship from the Royal Irish Academy (2015-16).

His international esteem is evidenced by his roles as an independent expert for the European Commission (Horizon), the National Research Council of Poland and the Velux Foundation, Denmark.

His research continues to be impact focused. In 2024, with Professor Patricia Lundy (Sociology) he organised a major international symposium at Ulster University to explore ‘heritage activism and difficult pasts’ funded by the AHRC IAA Stream.

He continues to work closely with several NGOs representing migrant populations in Northern Ireland.

For this civic work, Professor McDermott was awarded a Breaking Barriers award at the 2021 NI Advancing Racial Equality Awards. In 2023, he was elected as a board member of Northwest Migrants Forum a leading community organisation representing migrant communities in the wider Derry Area.