Dr Robert McNamara

Overview

Dr Robert McNamara previously worked as a research fellow at University College Cork (1999-2002) and taught part-time at Maynooth University (2002-2007). He also worked for the Irish Civil Service (2003-2007)

He joined Ulster University in August 2007 as a Lecturer in international history and was promoted Senior Lecturer in October 2013.

Robert was also Course Director for History between 2009 and 2014 and is currently a member of the Ulster University Research Ethics Committee.

Education

Robert studied at University College Cork, National University of Ireland and was awarded a BA Hons in History and English (1995) and PhD in History (1999) by the National University of Ireland. He was also awarded an MA in Public Administration (2006) from the Institute of Public Administration in Dublin.

Research Fields

Robert's research areas are in the history of British and European decolonisation and he has written or edited several books on aspects of imperial and colonial history. Robert has also published articles in several of major international journals, including the Journal of Contemporary History and the International History Review.

His doctoral dissertation was entitled "Britain's Other Cold War: A Study of British Policy towards Nasser's Egypt from Suez to the Six Day War" at University College, Cork.  He has published seven scholarly articles in Historical journals and numerous book chapters and has written two books. He also edited a book on the Churchill Family and Ireland.

Robert's current research is a project entitled Defying the Wind of Change: The Great Powers, Regional Players and the struggle for Southern Africa 1961-1980. This is a collaboration with Professor Filipe Riberio de Meneses of Maynooth University. Grants awarded to support this project include: A British academy grant of £7084 and €100k from the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences. The archival work for this project is based on research in Britain, Southern Africa, Portugal and the United States.

He is happy to receive enquiries from potential PhD and MPhil students wishing to work on British imperial history, African history, decolonization, comparative Empires, and 20th century Irish history.

Research Opportunities