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

Overview

My research examines the relationship between security, mobility and space in the Middle East with a focus on Palestine/Israel.

The security strand of my work examines patterns of insecurity and violence relating to minority policy, policing, protest policing and the practice of siege warfare. My first book,  (Routledge 2011), supported by funding from the ESRC and the Sir Peter Ustinov Prejucide Scholarship Fund, interrogated the policing of intra-communal violence in the Galilee region. Subsequent research, supported in part by an Early Career Leverhulme Fellowship, examined the impact of Israeli state policy and policing on Palestinian communities in Israel. This was published in (2010),  (2016),  (2016) and  (2017). More recent work exploring modern practice of siege warfare in Palestine has been published in (2026).

A second strand of my research focuses on mobility, specifically the everyday cross-border movements of Palestinian youth. This includes work examining the socio-political significance of recreational group running in the city of Jerusalem ( 2019) and the cross-border movements of Palestinian students from Israel seeking a higher education at universities in the West Bank ( 2023). This work opened up a third strand of research into the place of Palestinian universities in struggles for spatial and mobility justice, with a particular focus on 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). 

My current research continues to examine academic mobilities, spaces and futures in Palestine/Israel, with a growing interest in understanding the role of conflict-induced academic (im)mobilities in shaping the geopolitics of higher education across the Middle East and North Africa.

Current Funded Projects

• 2026-2027: Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) Flexible Grant for Small Groups on 'Liberating Youth: Age, Generation and Anti/Colonialism', Co-PI; Project Leads: Maya Nguyen (SOAS) & Stacey Hynd (Exeter) (£7,484)

Recently Funded Projects

• 2025-2026: Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) Project Award on 'Higher Education and the Right to the City in Jerusalem,' PI w/ Rawan Asali Nuseibeh, UCL (£6,993.45)
• 2025-2026: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account award on 'Student Encampment as Political Formation: Learning in Solidarity, Solidarity in Learning', PI w/ Jemima Repo, 缅北禁地 (£2,498.35)

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)

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.