Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
References
Timeline
Oliver A Donnelly

Oliver A Donnelly

Belfast,Antrim and Newtownabbey

Summary

Highly motivated expert in International Relations, with strong communication, organisation and research skills. Specialist expertise in emerging technologies and the internet, security, and political violence. Highly proficient in researching, advising and teaching in Politics and policy. Also highly experienced in stakeholder management, community engagement and communications, having worked as a member of management in a performance-driven retail environment with a particular responsibility for outreach. Effective team player with experience in effective leadership, driven self-direction, and effective multitasking and management of complex projects.

Overview

6
6
years of professional experience
10
10
years of post-secondary education

Work history

University Teaching Assistant

Queen's University Belfast
Belfast, Antrim
01.2019 - Current
  • Taught and examined a wide range of undergraduate courses in Politics, International Relations, and Philosophy, both in person and remotely. Primary point of contact and primary marker for students - determining 100% of any given student's grade.
  • Responsible for designing and leading weekly seminars and supporting student proposals for dissertations and coursework.
  • Provider of academic, practical and pastoral support to students via email, canvas, and in-person.
  • Received excellent feedback from students and instructors for the quality of my work, and have delivered training for new Teaching Assistants over the last 2 years.
  • Lectured on Research Design (specialising in researching Sensitive topics) as part of QUB's Masters degree in Sociology.

External Examiner

Institute of Policy Administration - NUI
Dublin
01.2023 - Current
  • I am the external examiner for Undergraduate courses in 'Civil Service and State Agency Studies' at the National University of Ireland's Institute of Policy Administration
  • I audit the course, co-write exam papers, and act as a moderator for work (both second-marking and statistically analysing grades given).
  • It is my responsibility to ensure that qualifications are are fair and meet standards that would be expected of comparable public-policy based courses at other universities in the UK and Ireland.


Supervisor (Outreach)

LUSH
BELFAST, Antrim
11.2021 - 04.2024
  • Worked as a Supervisor at LUSH Belfast during my studies, with particular responsibility for outreach, communications, and the local community. I was also day-to-day responsible for sales and customer experience.
  • Organised events and arranged for our store's participation in external events with local businesses and community organisations, and managed emails and communications with customers, businesses and the local council.
  • Took responsibility for many of the store's I.T functions, including designing a calculator that automatically generated targets and predictions based on our KPIs, and a single QR code scan to allow customers to review, receive newsletters, email or make bookings.
  • Managed staff on a day-to-day basis, led and prepared training courses, delivered both validation and constructive feedback, and was responsible for managing the shop floor, counting cash, and serving as a general member of management on a day to day basis.
  • Worked directly for head office as a member of the shortlisting panel for the LUSH Spring Prize 2023. This role involved researching organisations from around the world that applied for funding, evaluating them based both on ethical worthiness and their efficacy.
  • Given awards for having the best overall individual sales figures in the store for both Christmas 2021 and Christmas 2023.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy - International Relations

Queen's University Belfast, Belfast
10.2018 - 07.2024
  • Interdisciplinary PhD with a full scholarship from Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on Cybersecurity at The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.
  • Supervised by Dr. Mike Bourne (Politics) and Dr. Kieran McLaughlin (Computer Science)
  • My thesis examined the use of emerging technologies by the U.S. Military. I studied recruitment, training, and mental health programmes, exploring how they've been used and been affected by gamification, social media, AI, and distributed simulation.
  • My methods included ethnographic research and monitoring of online communities, and building a network of experts to interview and gather knowledge from, and visual, mechanical and statistical analysis of relevant systems and programmes.
  • My initial fieldwork plans were hampered due to the impossibility of travel to the U.S. during the COVID pandemic. I took the opportunity to reinvent my project to utilise remote methods and have developed great aptitude at studying online movements, networks and communities as a result.
  • I both presented at and played a significant part in organising QUB’s ‘LINCS’ academic conference during multiple years.
  • I represented QUB at the Atlantic Council’s “Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge”, coming second in the final by an extremely narrow margin to the team from Cambridge. This competition entailed quickly researching legislation and policy frameworks to advise in a hypothetical cyberterrorist crisis under time pressure, presenting both written and oral briefings to policy experts serving as a mock UK Cabinet. The judging panel for the final included a sitting minister of the UK cabinet and senior advisors from the Atlantic Council.
  • I received funding and academic support to design workshops in Politics and International Relations via computerised strategy games, with a team of lecturers and PhD researchers designing material based on my planning and direction.
  • I took training courses in C++, SQL, and 'advanced search techniques'.
  • I represented Queen’s on ‘University Challenge’ in the 2022-23 season of the Show.

Master of Arts - Violence, Terrorism and Security

Queen's University Belfast, Belfast
09.2017 - 09.2018

Bachelor of Arts (Moderatorship) - Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology.

Trinity College, Dublin
09.2013 - 04.2017


  • I competed and judged at numerous debating and public speaking competitions around Europe, including as a semi-finalist of the prestigious “Irish Times Debating Competition”, and as an invited judge at the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC). This nurtured excellent communication, presentation, research and listening skills that I still use constantly.
  • I organised weekly debates and other large social events as the Events Officer for The Hist at Trinity (The world’s oldest Student society). Guest speakers during my time in the society included Sinéad O'Connor, Dan Brown, and Judith Butler.
  • I was communications officer of the Trinity Economic Forum, which was addressed by Nobel Prize winning economist Vernon Smith: I was in charge of making the magazine and promotional material, including videos for the conference.

A-Levels - History, English, Politics, Economics

Methodist College, Belfast
09.2011 - 06.2013

GCSEs -

Methodist College, Belfast
09.2009 - 06.2011

Skills

  • Extensive experience in research design and practice (Both qualitative and quantitative), with particular experience in social media and online communities
  • Particularly strong understanding of emerging technologies ( Social networks, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Gamification)
  • Excellent networking, communications and outreach experience in both academic and commercial environments, including awards for sales
  • Experience managing a team, monitoring key performance indicators, delivering oral and written feedback, and showing leadership in managing collective tasks and responsibilites
  • Excellent written presentation skills - including articles, policy papers, teaching materials and longer research papers
  • Excellent oral presentation skills: confident public speaker responsible for delivering seminars and training others to do so Placed highly in national competitions for policy briefing, debate, and public speaking
  • Excellent understanding of politics and policy issues
  • Much experience of designing and delivering training courses, seminars and lectures, both as part of degree courses at a Russell Group university and within LUSH, a retail environment that prioritises 'five star' customer experience and extensive knowledge
  • Extensive experience evaluating written material, providing feedback and suggestions for improvement - examining degree courses at both Queen's University and the National University of Ireland and evaluating applications for a £200,000 prize fund


References

  • Mike Bourne, Reader - School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queens University Belfast, m.bourne@qub.ac.uk, +44(0)2890973765
  • Keith Breen, Reader, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queens University Belfast, k.breen@qub.ac.uk, +44 (0)28 9097 3349
  • Mark Finn, Lecturer- Whitaker School- Institute of Public Administration, National University of Ireland, mfinn@ipa.ie, 00 353 1 240 3600

Timeline

External Examiner - Institute of Policy Administration - NUI
01.2023 - Current
Supervisor (Outreach) - LUSH
11.2021 - 04.2024
University Teaching Assistant - Queen's University Belfast
01.2019 - Current
Queen's University Belfast - Doctor of Philosophy, International Relations
10.2018 - 07.2024
Queen's University Belfast - Master of Arts, Violence, Terrorism and Security
09.2017 - 09.2018
Trinity College, Dublin - Bachelor of Arts (Moderatorship), Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology.
09.2013 - 04.2017
Methodist College - A-Levels, History, English, Politics, Economics
09.2011 - 06.2013
Methodist College - GCSEs,
09.2009 - 06.2011

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Oliver A Donnelly