Since my appointment at TCD, I have been an active researcher who has identified a precise, innovative and still mostly unexplored thematic niche while carrying out a set of independent projects based on primary data collection in a challenging environment such as the Middle East. In June 2014, I was awarded the Research Incentive Scheme 2014-15 ( 3,170) by the Trinity Long Room Hub (TLRH), the Arts and Humanities Research Institute at TCD. The grant supported the project 'An Engagement with Religious Zionism and its Sacred Values'. Between September and November 2015, I carried out field research in contested areas of the Holy Land where I conducted interviews with key representatives of Jewish/Muslim communities, grassroots organizations and political parties. Between April 2014 and June 2015, I was actively involved in the EU FP7 project 'Slándáil: The Impact of Social Media in Emergencies'. As a work package leader of the 'society and ethics' subject-area, I was responsible for an overall budget of 157,071. In November 2015, I secured the Irish Research Council (IRC) 'New Horizons Starter Scheme' ( 37,000), a grant which was awarded to only seven applicants in the whole of Ireland in 2015, two within Trinity College. The grant assisted further field research in summer 2016 and funded a set of networking events in Israel, Palestine and Dublin. In January 2016, I secured further funding from the TCD Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Research Scheme ( 2,850). The grant assisted the preliminary stages of a new project investigating the overlapping between theological and national drives at the basis of the dispute for the Temple Mount /Haram al-Sharif. In May 2017, I was awarded the TRiSS Academic Research Projects Scheme ( 2,000), which funded field-research in the Old City of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, to gather data about national-religious mobilization at grassroots level around Jerusalem's contested shrines. Since January 2017, I have acted as a primary academic consultant for the ongoing project' Political & Inter-Religious Dialogue towards Resolving the Conflict over the Holy Esplanade'. The project is led by the Herbert C. Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation (Austria) and is financially supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project is based on active field-research in Jerusalem, Israel, Palestinian Territories and the region. It also includes the facilitation of problem-solving workshops including Jewish and Muslim clerics and stakeholders from religiously conservative constituencies. Over the past four years I contributed to the collective formulation of policy papers which provided diplomatic entry points to several third-party intervenors (most recently, the Biden Administration). The donors have recently renewed their commitment to sustain the project for another 3 years (i.e. overall budget of 1100,000). Between 2019 and 2020, I took a leading role in the writing of a research proposal entitled 'An Ecumenical Approach to Sunni-Shia Encounter' (739,719). The proposed three-year project will address the Sunni-Shia sectarian strife in selected Middle East contexts through ecumenical theologies, methodologies and praxes. In February and August 2019, I carried out two field trips to Beirut and other Lebanese cities/regions with the aim of strengthening collaborations and synergies with leading universities in the Middle East, religious stakeholders/institutions and prominent grassroots organizations. The final project proposal was submitted to the Olayan Foundation in 2020 and received promising feedback. Should the application be successful, I will lead the project as principal investigator.
