Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in:
- Transitional justice
- Truth recovery
- Dealing with the past
- Victims, Ex-combatants
- Reparations
- Emotions
- Dark tourism
- Northern Ireland conflict and peace process
Public outreach & key achievements
Dr Cheryl Lawther is currently leading and working on a number of UKRI funded research projects:
- AHRC Early Career Research Grant for a project on 'Voice, Agency and Blame: Victimhood and the Imagined Community in Northern Ireland'
- Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded project 'Reparations, Responsibilities and Victimhood in Transitional Societies'
- Leading on a Department for Education–Global Challenges Research Fund pilot project on representations of victimhood at dark tourist sites, with a specific focus on Cambodia
Research students
| PhD area |
Cultural trauma and transgenerational transmission in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Judith Fullerton |
| PhD area | Transitional divisions of peace: Urban -vs- rural differences of peace and reconciliation projects in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Seanin Little |
| PhD area | Have Inquiries been used to limit the number of 'provable truths' about the conflict in Northern Ireland or the legacy of historical institutional abuse? |
| Name | Conor Flannery |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | Reimagining guarantees of non-recurrence in transitional justice: Lessons from Sri Lanka |
| Name | Dr Nikhil Narayan |
| Year of study | PhD awarded 2023 |
| PhD area | Seeking asylum in the EU: In search of solidarity and current protection challenges |
| Name | Dr Sarah Craig |
| Year of study | PhD Awarded 2022 |
| PhD area | Between cultural violence and symbolic reparations: The risk and utility of Irish republican reparative memorials |
| Name | Dr Padraig Quinn |
| Year of study | PhD Awarded 2022 |
| PhD area |
Doing desistance in divided neighbourhoods: The role of conflict-affected neighbourhoods in the desistance process during reintegration |
| Name | Dr Shane Bell |
| Year of study | PhD awarded 2019 |
| Current Position: | Teaching assistant, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast |
| PhD area |
A sociological study of the relationship between Christian religious peacebuilding and transformation in post-apartheid South Africa |
| Name | Dr Duncan Scott |
| Year of study | PhD awarded 2017 |
| Current Position: | Government researcher, Canada |
Discover More
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- School of Law
- Human Rights Centre
- Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice
- The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law Read our guidance on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.
Interested in a postdoctoral fellowship at QUB Law?
If you have already completed a PhD or are about to do so, and you are looking for a mentor for a postdoctoral fellowship in one of my areas of expertise, please get in touch via email. The School of Law has a strong track record in supporting able candidates who are working towards fellowship applications to funders such as the British Academy, EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie scheme, ESRC NINE and the Leverhulme Trust.