缅北禁地

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) 

Journal Editorships

2023-2025, Editorial Board Member for

2017-2018, Associate Editor for

Disciplinary roles

2023-2027: Trustee for the

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), Khadouri campus in Tulkarem ( 2025) and Al Quds University in Jerusalem ( 2026). A third strand examines state violence and the practice of siege warfare in Palestine ( 2025 and 2025).

Areas of potential PhD research supervision (not exhaustive):

• Security, mobility and space
• Mobility and spatial (in)justice
• Borders, border spaces, cross-border mobilities
• Geopolitics of higher education
• The politics of everyday life 
• Contentious politics, social movements and protest
• Ethnopolitics, ethnic minority rights and struggles
• Urban spaces, policing and surveillance
• Ethnographic research methods

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

Current PhD co-supervision:

• 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):

• Zena Agha (2026) 'Colonial cartography in Palestine-Israel and the decolonising potential of counter-maps' (缅北禁地)
• 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)

Previous Funding Awards

Council for British Research in the Levant Project Grant (2025-2026)

ESRC Impact Acceleration Award (2025-2026)

Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship (2011-2013)

Sir Peter Ustinov Prejudice Scholarship (2006-2009)

Economic and Social Research Council (1+3) Studentship (2005-2009)

Council for British Research in the Levant Award (2006)

Ginsburg-Ingerman Scholarship (2001-2002)

UG Teaching

POL2012: Politics of the Middle East (120 students)

POL3060: Politics of Protest in the Middle East (90 students)

MA Teaching

POL8044: Geopolitics (20 students)

Teaching Awards and Nominations

I have received multiple student nominations to NUSU Teaching Excellence Awards in the categories of ‘Taught Supervisor of the Year’ (2021) and ‘Outstanding Contribution to Teaching’ in HASS (2024). In 2025, I was shortlisted for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching (HASS) in the NUSU Teaching Excellence awards.

• Articles

  • McGahern U. . Journal of Genocide Research 2026, 28(2), 438-459.
  • McGahern U, Asali Nuseibeh R. . Mobilities 2026, Epub ahead of print.
  • 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.