Liam O’Shea is an academic researcher studying policing, security, and state building in the Former Soviet Union. His current research focuses on policing and police reform in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia and he has spent over one-and-a-half years conducting fieldwork in these countries. Liam is also interested, more broadly, in the study of security sector reform (SSR), police reform, crime, and security in developing countries.
Liam is currently completing a PhD at the University of St. Andrews’ School of International Relations. He holds a BA in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University, an MA in Conflict, Governance, and Development from the University of York and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Russian Language from the University of Glasgow.
During his PhD, Liam has worked as an external researcher on a Scottish Government project on international police assistance. He worked previously for two Labour MPs at the Westminster Parliament on a variety of issues, including UK development policy in conflict zones and the deployments of British police in developing countries.