This thesis is concerned with political developments in Northern Ireland between the introduction of direct rule (March 1972) and the ending of the Constitutional Convention (March 1976).  In part, it argues that those developments occurred due to the changing nature of the political opportunities available to the various actors.  The thesis concentrates on the two main Northern Ireland political parties – the Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).  Although informed by critical theory, the thesis is empirically based and utilises newly released archival material.  My research interests cover twentieth century Irish history and Northern Ireland politics, and my thesis borrows from recent developments in social movement theory, which I count among my subsidiary interests

I completed my B.Ed in 2000 and MA in 2003 (QUB).  I am a committee member of the Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI), and a member of the Political Studies Association (PSA).  I am also external communications officer on the Post-Graduate Network (PGN) executive committee and co-edit the Social Science Research Graduate School newsletter, Socsci News.  I have presented papers at various conferences including the ECPR post-graduate conference (Essex, 2006), the PGN/PSAI post-graduate conference (QUB, 2006), and the PSAI annual conference (Cork, 2006).