Jonny Byrne

Biography

Dr. Jonny Byrne is currently a Lecturer and Year Two Tutor in criminology and criminal justice, in the School of Criminology, Social Policy and Politics at Ulster University. Jonny lectures on issues relating to policing and security, countering violent extremism and psychology within the criminal justice system. He has completed a number of research projects on public attitudes to peace walls, paramilitary violence, young people’s participation in political violence, community experiences of public order policing in Northern Ireland, bonfires, and the manipulations of commemorations and celebrations in a contested society. Jonny works closely within a number of organisations including the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) on areas pertaining to ‘policing with the community, confidence and accountability’. In the previous two years he has been awarded two ESRC Knowledge Exchange awards, were he worked with the British government and the DoJ on supporting policy making through academic research and analysis on issues such as parades, flags, bonfires and physical segregation. Jonny is also a member of the European Union Radicalisation Awareness Network (Youth, Families and Community Working Group and the Police and Law Enforcement Working Group). Dr. Byrne is a member of the Youth Advisory Group to the Northern Ireland Policing Board. He has also been responsible for two recent reports on radicalisation in Northern Ireland (2016) for the International donor Co-operation Ireland, looking at motivations behind young people’s participation in political violence.

Research Interest

He is currently involved in a Horizon 2020 award exploring soft skills in peacebuilding and is also managing two research projects, looking at the policy around commemorations and identity in a shared society (for the community relations council) and the challenges around implementing a policing with the community strategy in a divided society (for the PSNI).