The Post-Brexit Status and Future of Northern Ireland

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Northern Ireland has been pivotal to the process of the UK's withdrawal from the EU and will continue to be so in the negotiation of the future UK-EU relationship. A Fellowship on the UK in a Changing Europe on this subject in 2019-2022 will not only record and explain the impact of Brexit of Northern Ireland, but also the impact that Northern Ireland will inevitably have on post-Brexit landscape for the UK and EU itself. Into a particularly febrile and dangerously uncertain environment, this Fellowship will allow us to reassert the invaluable role for non-partisan knowledge and rigorous evidence in political debate, providing a solid foundation for public understanding, policymaking and future planning. The work programme of this Fellowship will be flexible enough to respond quickly to emerging or urgent issues but core activity will be constituted from two elements: (1) Knowledge exchange and public engagement and (2) Synthesis of existing research, with additional research as necessary.To elaborate:1. For knowledge exchange and public engagement, I will do four main things: i) Be, in effect, 'on call' to meet need for media/public information requests ii) Organise and host workshops/outreach events for the public and for stakeholders across various sectors, including outside Northern Ireland. iii) Direct knowledge towards targeted policymaking and practitioner need, through various means iv) Use media and innovative means to explain evidence and research. 2. For the synthesis of existing research, with additional research to keep up to date and to meet requirements for evidence as they emerge. I will work across five main themes:i) Governance - NI's place in the UK and EUii) Policy Challenges in NI - learning from GB/ROIiii) Border management at the Irish borderiv Public Opinion in NIv) Brexit-impact in the Irish border region. Between them, I will be able to produce research evidence and analysis that answers the key questions on the post-Brexit status and future of Northern Ireland. These questions connect to broad UK concerns (the Withdrawal Agreement; the UK constitution; the future UK-EU relationship; security) and to the Northern Ireland case for cross-cutting interests, such as public attitudes.There is an incredibly timely and vital capacity in this Fellowship to mark a step-change in how social science research evidence connects to public debate and policy making. My contribution to this through the UKICE Fellowship will build on my high public profile and exemplary scholarly reputation with new opportunities to gather information, connect networks/experts/stakeholders and to use novel methods to disseminate evidence and quality analysis. The Fellowship will involve productive connections between (a) key stakeholders from a wide range of areas directly connected to Brexit in Northern Ireland, e.g. traders, community workers, and (b) academics from different disciplines and various parts of the UK and Ireland.The Fellowship will produce a high level of output, benefiting greatly from the opportunities for collaboration. These will be in four forms: a)Scholarly publications: A Monograph on the future Irish border (for instance OUP who published Leary's Unapproved Routes, 2016) and (co-)authored [with PDRA] journal articles (e.g. BJIPR & Intl.Pol.Sociology) containing record and analysis of the research of the Fellowship.b) Responsive output: Applying evidence and academic knowledge to key events, e.g. short briefings, newspaper pieces, blogs, and contributions to various forms of media (podcasts, radio, TV) c) Transferable output: This is to place information in a form that can easily be distributed widely and used by anyone. This takes various forms, from blogs, to twitter threads, to infograms.d) Interactive output:This takes the form of workshops, seminars, briefings, conferences in which research can be disseminated and gathered.