He completed his PhD thesis entitled “Discourses of authenticity and national identity among the Irish diaspora in England” in 2010, and has contributed to a number of academic conferences and publications on the topic of the Irish in England in recent years. His major academic interests lie in researching discourses of migration, diaspora, transnationalism and multiculturalism, and in particular how individuals negotiate their own identities within these discourses. He is also interested in the interaction between local and national identities, particularly in relation to Irish county identity.