麻豆传媒

Dr Katy Hayward is one of the leading political sociologists on the island of Ireland, and is a Reader in Sociology, and Senior Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen鈥檚 University Belfast. Dr Hayward鈥檚 research focuses on conflict/post-conflict transitions and is actively interdisciplinary, traversing fields of border studies, conflict studies, European studies, and Irish studies. This means that she is particularly well-placed to speak about the implications of Brexit for the island of Ireland, and Northern Ireland in particular, European integration, political violence, and the application of discourse analysis.

Afzal Ashraf has broad experience of International Relations and security issues, both as a practitioner and as an academic.

This includes service as a senior officer in the UK Armed Forces in operations ranging from famine relief in Africa to stabilisation operations in the South Atlantic, deterrence support in the Cold War and strategic aspects of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has worked in support of diplomacy in the UK鈥檚 Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in information fusion, analysis and communication in some of UK鈥檚 security-related government departments.

He has been Head of Training Management for the Royal Air Force where he had responsibility for physical fitness, combat survival and through life learning.

He has run a private security consultancy covering areas such as cyber security and countering violent extremism and was a Consultant Fellow at the UK鈥檚 oldest Think Tank, the Royal United Services Institute. 

Regina Bateson is an assistant professor in the political science department. She studies violence and politics, the rule of law, and problems of democracy. Geographically, she focuses on Latin America (especially Guatemala) and the United States. 
Regina's work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Perspectives on Politics, The Journal of Politics, the Journal of Peace Research, Comparative Political Studies, and other outlets. Her research has won several awards, including the American Political Science Association's Heinz Eulau Award and the Gabriel A. Almond Award for the best dissertation in comparative politics. 
Regina earned her BA in history from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in political science from Yale University, with support from an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Prior to her academic career, she was a Foreign Service Officer for the US Department of State.