Dr Agnès Maillot is a lecturer in Intercultural studies, which takes an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of politics and history across many different cultures. She is specialised in the Northern Ireland conflict, with a focus on Sinn Féin and the IRA, and her publications include many books and articles on the politics of conflict and the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Dr Agnès Maillot’s approach to research is field-work based. Her PhD thesis and her subsequent books and articles on the IRA and Sinn Féin are therefore largely grounded on a series of interviews with top Sinn Féin and IRA leaders, community activists, former prisoners, etc. One of the areas of particular interest in the field of conflict resolution is that of the rôle that former prisoners have played in the peace process, as agents of change and initiative. She has participated on two occasions to the summer school of Coiste na n-Iarchimí, a former IRA prisoner organisation, taking part in round tables and discussion panels on the past and future of the IRA.
Dr Maillot also researches and lectures in the area of multiculturalism and interculturalism, looking at the politico-cultural dimension of the current debates on immigration and integration, with a particular focus on the Irish and French situations.