Meet Our 2021-2022 Fellows

The Global Irish Studies Initiative 2021-2022 cohort was comprised of eight Fellows, four undergraduate and four graduate students.

Learn more about our 2021-22 GIS Fellows and their research projects below.

If you are a friend of Global Irish Studies and you wish to support our Fellows program, contact Prof. Cóilín Parsons for more information.

The 2022 GIS Fellowship Research Symposium

On May 4th, 2022, we were proud to host our first annual Global Irish Studies Fellowship Research Symposium on Georgetown Main Campus. This event served as an end of the year celebration and presentation of the illuminating research conducted by our cohort. Each of the eight Fellows presented highlights of their projects and ongoing questions they had explored throughout their time working with Global Irish Studies. Below are some photos from the event:

Marion Cassidy

Undergraduate

Marion was a junior in the College at the time of her fellowship, set to graduate in the spring of 2023. She is originally from Brooklyn, New York. She studies History and Art History with a minor in Theater and Performance Studies. Her GIS Fellowship research examined how performance has and can be used to remember the political divides and generational trauma of The Troubles between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. She believes that the arts can reveal and teach us so much about ourselves, others, and society. As a Fellow, she explored how The Troubles have been portrayed and remembered through plays. Read more about Marion’s project here.

Ryan Conner

Graduate

Ryan Conner is a graduate student in European Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Through the 2021-22 Global Irish Studies Fellowship, Ryan researched the work of long-time Georgetown law professor Samuel Dash in Northern Ireland during the early years of the Troubles. In 1972, on behalf of a U.S.-based human rights organization, Dash observed the U.K. government’s tribunal of inquiry into Bloody Sunday and wrote a book challenging the official report. This research connected the Northern Ireland conflict to the international human rights politics of the 1970s. Ryan previously published research on the northern civil rights movement of the 1960s. He interned at the U.S. State Department during the fall of 2021, and will intern at the Washington Ireland Program in the spring of 2022. Ryan writes in a personal capacity, and any views expressed during the fellowship are his own. Read more about Ryan’s project here.

Casey Donahue

Graduate

Casey Donahue graduated with a dual Master’s degree in History and Foreign Service in the spring of 2022. He studies peacebuilding processes and sociopolitical movements in the transatlantic space. With the help of the Global Irish Studies Fellowship, Casey worked to advance two projects related to group identity and memory: a history capstone that tracked the evolution of “Irishness” in a Nebraska town since the 1870s; and a comparative examination of youth history education and civil conflict remembrance in Liberia, Northern Ireland, and the United States. Casey also speaks Arabic and has published on diverse topics, including funk music, Iranian opposition movements, and Afghan women’s issues. Read more about Casey’s project here.

Nicole Marion

Undergraduate

Nicole Marion graduated from the College with a double major in History and Government in the spring of 2022. Given her longstanding interest in Ireland and the United Kingdom, Nicole’s project focused on paramilitary women in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. This project aligned with Nicole’s Honors History thesis, comparing the motivations and experiences of Republican and Loyalist women with each other as well as with their male counterparts. With this project, Nicole contributed to the under-researched study of paramilitary women during the Troubles and situated their experiences within the global context of Gender and Security Studies. Read more about Nicole’s project here.

Siobhán Mitchell

Graduate

Siobhán graduated with her M.S. in Global Health in August of 2022. Before arriving at Georgetown, she received her B.A. in Spanish from Denison University, where her coursework focused on sociolinguistics, transatlantic literature, and Hispanic cinema. Her research with the Global Irish Studies Initiative investigated the implementation and impact of taxes on tobacco and sugary sweetened beverages in Ireland, linking Irish Studies with her passion for public health. She values conversation and collaboration with fellow students and highly valued learning from her peers in the GIS Fellowship program. Read more about Siobhán’s project here.

Maja Ochojska

Undergraduate

Maja was a junior at the time of her fellowship, majoring in Government and minoring in Justice and Peace Studies, set to graduate from the College in the spring of 2023. She has a particular interest in conflict resolution and transformation. She lived in Northern Ireland for 12 years and considers it her home–she loves traveling around the island and discovering all that it has to offer! As a GIS Fellow, she explored how progressive social politics have altered the perception of what it means to be Irish and Catholic, particularly how abortion legalization has been reconciled and accepted within those identities. Read more about Maja’s project here.

Alisha Saxena

Graduate

Alisha Saxena (she/her) is a Master of Public Policy candidate for the Class of 2023 at the McCourt School of Public Policy. Her interest in Ireland developed while a research intern for RepresentWomen, where she researched Ireland’s electoral system. As a Fellow, Saxena explored why Irish women are less likely to run for office and win elections, and she specifically focused on determining if their unique electoral system contributes to these trends. The impacts of this political gender imbalance was also explored, with solutions proposed on how to progress towards political gender parity in Ireland. Read more about Alisha’s project here.

Isabella Turilli

Undergraduate

Isabella Turilli (SFS’22) graduated from the School of Foreign Service with a major in Science, Technology, and International Affairs, and a Certificate in Diplomatic Studies. Her work and research focuses on global health governance and the impact of normative precedents on policymaking. As a Global Irish Studies Fellow, Isabella extended those interests by exploring the legal concept of a “state of emergency” and its use – or lack thereof – in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of her academic work while at Georgetown, Isabella enjoyed serving campus as an EMT with GERMS and performing with the Georgetown Chamber Singers. Read more about Isabella’s project here.