I am a historian of early modern Ireland and Britain, with particular interests in religion, violence, rebellion and conflict, ethnicity and identity, and the early British empire.

My first monograph is forthcoming (spring 2026) with Cambridge University Press as part of the 'Studies in Early Modern British History' series. Titled Religion, Rebellion and Violence in Ireland, c. 1603-1649, the book addresses the important shaping role of religion in Irish violence in the first half of the seventeenth century, and its intersections with colonialism, ethnic identities and political upheaval.

Part of Oxford University Press’s ‘A Very Short Introduction’ series, my next project is the short book, Stuart Britain and Ireland: A Very Short Introduction.

In addition to these, I have published on topics including memory, martyrology, gender, as well as on many aspects of Irish and British religious and conflict histories of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

I hold a BA in History and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin, an MPhil in Early Modern History from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in History also from the University of Cambridge. I first joined King’s in 2016.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• Seventeenth-century Irish and British history
• History of violence, protest and rebellion
• Religious history of Ireland and Britain in the early modern period
• The early modern Atlantic world, especially as it connects to Ireland

I welcome expressions of interest from prospective PhD students interested in researching topics connected with the above themes, especially those based in the seventeenth century. Please note that I generally will not consider topics that fall considerably outside this remit. I have previously served as a second supervisor on topics including the Levellers, early modern London prisons, and early modern English legal pluralism.

For more information, please see my full research profile.

Teaching

I teach on a wide range of modules at King's, including Master's level courses addressing early modern historiography and the history of religious conflict, and undergraduate offerings that cover a range of topics in early modern British and Irish history, including religion, politics, crime, and early imperialism.

Expertise and public engagement

I have written for The Irish Times on issues including academia and Brexit.

In 2019, I was a contributor to the BBC Radio 4 series ‘The Invention of Britain’, with my contribution also featuring as a standalone podcast.