Academic biography

Walt Kilroy is Co-Director of the DCU Conflict Institute. He was Associate Director of DCU's Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction (IICRR), before it became the Conflict Institute. He is also Assistant Professor at the School of Law and Government. His research interests include development, conflict, and post-war reconstruction, and the interactions between these processes. His teaching has included these topics, as well as international media and reporting. His doctoral thesis was awarded the Basil Chubb Prize for the best PhD in political science (2012) by the Political Studies Association of Ireland. It looked at the way in which ex-combatants were dealt with after the wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa, through the programmes for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR). Field work for the thesis involved interviews with a wide range of actors in both countries, from local community representatives to international agency staff. The views of ex-combatants were also gathered through interviews, a survey, and focus group discussions in a variety of locations in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

He was awarded a one-year a postdoctoral fellowship at Dublin City University by the Irish Research Council (formerly IRCHSS). A monograph based on his thesis is published by Palgrave Macmillan (April 2015).

He was programme chair of DCU's MA in International Relations and MA in International Security and Conflict (2018-21).

He coordinated a project called PESTUGE, funded by grant of €1 million from the EU’s Erasmus+ programme (project reference number 561589-EPP-1-2015-1-IE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). It involved eight partners in four countries, in developing the teaching of peace studies at universities in the Republic of Georgia. It is a three-year project (2015 to 2018).

Walt previously worked in the Horn of Africa for the development organisation, Trócaire, on conflict and advocacy (2004-06). This focused on the on the Darfur conflict in Sudan, again involving research in the field. Prior to that, he worked in journalism for print, radio, and television, and was Deputy Foreign Editor at the Irish public service broadcaster, RTE. He reported from conflict zones such as Afghanistan and the Balkans, as well as carrying out the more routine international reporting assignments. He received the National Science and Technology Journalism Award (Television Category) for his reporting on climate change for RTE News.

His undergraduate studies were in psychology (UCD), with postgraduate studies in journalism and an MA in International Relations (DCU).