缅北禁地

Background

I am interested in issues relating to mobility, security, and space in the Middle East with a particular focus on Israel-Palestine. My research is ethnographic and interdisciplinary in nature and engages a range of methods to document hidden histories of violence, new and emerging patterns of action and interaction, as well as spaces of resistance and hope.  

I am co-convenor of the GPS MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Research Group, Trustee for the , and Associate Editor of the interdisciplinary journal .

Qualifications

• HEA Full Fellow (缅北禁地)
• DPhil in Government and International Affairs (Durham University)
• MA in Research Methods of the Middle East (Durham University)
• BA in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies (Dublin City University) 

My research examines the relationship between security, mobility and space in Palestine/Israel, with a commitment to interdisciplinary approaches and ethnographic methods and a focus on the experiences of neglected and minoritised communities. My first book,  (Routledge 2011), interrogated state attitudes towards non-Muslims in a Jewish state through the lens of ethnocratic theory. This formed the basis of my subsequent research on the impact of Israeli state policy and policing on Palestinian communities in Israel which was published in  (2016),  (2016) and  (2017).

One strand of my current research focuses on the relationship between mobility and place. This includes work on the socio-political significance of recreational group running in the city of Jerusalem ( 2019) and the cross-border movements of Palestinian students from Israel who study at universities in the West Bank ( 2023). A second strand explores the particular geo-political and economic significance of Palestinian university campuses in producing alternative forms and spaces of resistance through education. This includes recent work spotlighting the university campuses of the Arab American University of Palestine in Jenin ( 2024) and Khadouri campus in Tulkarem ( 2025). A third strand examines state violence and the practice of siege warfare in Palestine ( 2025 and 2025).

Current Funded Projects

• Higher Education and the Right to the City in Jerusalem: A Spatial History of Al Quds University (with Rawan Nusseibeh (UCL), funded by Council for British Research in the Levant Project Grant (2025-26)

Areas of potential PhD research supervision (not exhaustive):

• Contentious politics, social movements and protest
• Political mobilisation and repression
• Ethnopolitics, ethnic minority rights and struggles
• The study of war and state violence
• Forms and theories of resistance and liberation
• Urban spaces, policing and surveillance
• Issues of power, security, mobility and space
• Borders, border spaces, cross-border mobilities
• The politics of everyday life 
• Spatial (in)justice
• Ethnographic research methods

I welcome applications for PhD supervision in any of the above areas.

Current PhD co-supervision:

• Zena Agha 'Colonial cartography in Palestine-Israel and the decolonising potential of counter-maps'
• Michael Mo (2024-present) 'The interplay between affective polarisation among elites and the public in social movements: The case of Hong Kong and Taiwan' 
• Tamara Tamimi (2021-present) 'Delivering Justice for Palestinians through International Law? Between Expectations and Challenges' (Queen's University Belfast)

Past PhD co-supervision (completed PhD projects):

• Will Lloyd (2025) 'No Woman is Limited: An Ethnography of Running, Feminism and Development in Nepal' (Durham University)
• Sarina Theys (2018) 'The Soft Power of Non-Western Small States: The Cases of Bhutan and Qatar' (缅北禁地, UK)

Previous Funding Awards

Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship 

Sir Peter Ustinov Prejudice Scholarship

Economic and Social Research Council (1 3) Studentship

Council for British Research in the Levant Award

Ginsburg-Ingerman Scholarship

Undergraduate Teaching

POL2012: Politics of the Middle East (80 students)

POL3060: Politics of Protest in the Middle East (60 students)

• Articles

  • McGahern U. . Journal of Genocide Research 2026, 28(2), 438-459.
  • McGahern U. . Geopolitics 2025, 30(2), 830-858.
  • McGahern U, Iriqat D, Al-Haj A. . Political Geography 2024, 108, 103030.
  • McGahern U. . Mobilities 2023, 18(6), 903-919.
  • McGahern U. . Mobilities 2019, 14(6), 890-905.
  • McGahern U. . Political Geography 2017, 59, 92-102.
  • McGahern U. . Security Dialogue 2016, 47(6), 481-497.
  • McGahern U. . International Political Sociology 2016, 10(3), 206-222.
  • McGahern U. . Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research 2011, 4(1), 79-93.
  • McGahern U. . Mediterranean Politics 2010, 15(3), 415-433.

• Authored Book

  • McGahern U. . Oxon: Routledge, 2011.

• Book Chapter

  • McGahern U. . In: Courtois, A. Marginson, S. & Montgomery, C. & Sidhu, R, ed. The Future of Cross-Border Academic Mobilities and Immobilities: Power, Knowledge and Agency. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025, pp.99-112.

• Online Publications

  • McGahern U. . Birmingham: Simon Cook, 2022. Available at: .
  • McGahern U. Contending Nakba-denial: The role of oral and visual testimonies. E-International Relations, 2014. Available at: https://www.e-ir.info/2014/08/28/contending-nakba-denial-the-role-of-oral-and-visual-testimonies/#google_vignette.
  • McGahern U. The Loaded Discourse of Gun Control in Israel. E-International Relations, 2013. Available at: https://www.e-ir.info/2013/08/13/the-loaded-discourse-of-gun-control-in-israel/.

• Review

  • McGahern U. . Geopolitics 2020, 25(1), 267-271.