“Dr. Brennan is an amazing instructor.”
“Seán was fantastic. He did an incredible job of matching lectures to the daily interviews.”
“The program with Dr. Brennan is a wonderful mix of intellectual stimulation and also stops to allow us to appreciate the beauty of the country.”– Politicians, Paramilitaries, and Peace student alumni
Dr. Seán Brennan holds a Ph.D. from the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). Seán’s research focuses on the challenges loyalist ex-combatants encounter as they attempt to reintegrate into a post-ceasefire society through processes of Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR).
As a peacebuilding practitioner, Seán’s work with divided communities precedes the ceasefires, peace accords, and modalities of post-conflict peacebuilding developed in the 1990s. With the award of an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Ulster) in 1995, Seán drew on normative theories of peace research developed by Kenneth Boulding, John Wear Burton, Johann Galtung, and John Paul Lederach to design and deliver community relations, community development, and peacebuilding programs for marginalized and disadvantaged communities attempting to take opportunities arising from the peace.
From 2004-2013 Seán worked in North Belfast with a range of community/voluntary, statutory, and academic institutes, such as QUB, UCLA, Boston College, and Stanford University, to develop peacebuilding programs. In 2008 his QUB-accredited Peacebuilding in Interface Communities program was short-listed for the Times Higher Education Awards. Seán has also worked in a number of contested and post-conflict societies, from Cyprus and Azerbaijan to Poland, Nigeria, and Moldova.
Seán has taught CRDC’s class in Northern Ireland since 2015, sharing his expertise with students from GMU’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Schar School of Policy and Government, and Global Affairs program, as well as Georgetown Students from the McCourt School of Public Policy and master’s programs in conflict resolution and democracy & governance.
