SUMMARY ABOUT ME
Donnacha Ó Beacháin is Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University (DCU) where he lectures on post-Soviet politics, unrecognised states, Irish studies and foreign policy.
Professor Ó Beacháin has conducted research in all fifteen former Soviet republics and lectured as a visiting professor in several countries in the region, including Georgia, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
He has been Principal Investigator of two major EU-funded projects focusing on the post-Soviet space, collectively valued at €7.5 million. Professor Ó Beacháin has twice (in 2012 and 2017) been awarded the accolade “Champion of European Research” by Ireland’s National Research Support Network in award ceremonies hosted by President Michael D. Higgins and the Minister of State for Training and Skills. The citation reads that ‘as leaders of major research projects in the EU Framework Programme for Research and Development these researchers … are deemed to have reached the pinnacle of the European Research System’.
Professor Ó Beacháin’s books related to the post-Soviet region include The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics (with Abel Polese), Life in Post-Communist Europe after EU Membership, (with Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan) and the forthcoming The Domestic Politics of Post-Soviet Unrecognised States to be published in 2023.
His books related to Ireland include Destiny of the Soldiers: Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the IRA 1926–1973 and Political Communication in Ireland (with Mark O’Brien), and From Whence I Came: The Kennedy Legacy, Ireland and America (with Brian Murphy), which was launched by An Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) in March 2021 as part of Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Professor Ó Beacháin’s most recent monograph From Partition to Brexit: The Irish Government and Northern Ireland was winner of the book of the year award from the Political Studies Association of Ireland.
In January 2012, professor Ó Beacháin also received an additional commission from the IRCHSS/Department of Foreign Affairs to conduct field research in Abkhazia and Transnistria and write two reports evaluating electoral politics in these two unrecognised states.
Professor Ó Beacháin held a three-year (2008-11) Marie Curie Fellowship awarded by the European Commission to conduct research on the ‘colour revolution’ phenomenon. The term “colour revolutions” is shorthand for a series of election-related protests that led to regime change in the post-Soviet space most notably in the Georgian “Rose Revolution” and Ukrainian “Orange Revolution”. Previously, between 2000 and 2005, prof. Ó Beacháin held visiting fellowships in Georgia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. He has organised several major international conferences at DCU including one devoted to the conflict in Ukraine https://www.dcu.ie/news/2015/feb/s0215g.shtml
Professor Ó Beacháin is a regular contributor to national and global media and is frequently employed by international organisations as a consultant.