Assoc ProfessorAogan Mulcahy

A country boy at heart, I grew up in west Kerry before going on to study at University College Galway (now NUIG) from 1984-97, graduating with BA degree in Sociology/Politics and English. After receiving a Postgraduate Diploma from the University of Stirling and an MA from Northern Illinois University, in 1992 I began the interdisciplinary doctoral programme in Law and the Social Sciences in the School of Justice Studies at Arizona State University, where the term 'yes, but it's a dry heat' took on a whole new meaning. I spent two years doing fieldwork in Belfast on police reform, and received my PhD in 1998. Along the way, I also worked as a criminology researcher at the University of Leeds (a study of magistrates' courts) and Keele University (examining the relationship between policing and cultural change in England).In 1999 I moved to UCD where I teach modules in sociology and criminology. My main research interests concern issues of social order and social control. I am especially interested in how policing adapts to changing social and political environments, as well as how policing contributes to shaping those very environments. More recently, I have been working on several research projects looking at different aspects of policing, crime and justice, including the dynamics of police reform in light of recent scandals, and different aspects of diversity policing. At present, my main research focus is on the themes of continuity and change in the development of policing in Ireland, and the role that 'community' plays in shaping our understandings of police legitimacy. I love mountains, the seashore, good company and good coffee.