Before entering higher education as a lecturer I was a community and youth worker in Belfast in both a voluntary and professional capacity. A number of positions included that of community education organiser and anti-sectarian research and training officer; as such during this period I was involved in a number of anti-sectarian, diversity and community relations projects. This entailed both undertaking research and delivering training in areas relating to prejudice reduction and conflict resolution. Stemming from this work I became involved in various community adult education initiatives which meant working in partnership with trade union and unemployment groups. With other colleagues I am a founder member of ‘Panarts’ Northern Ireland a community based arts project set up to encourage young people to explore their experiences and cultural differences in a divided society through the performing arts. Today ‘Panarts’ remains committed to it’s community and schools based cultural diversity work but now also organises a major annual international music festival in Belfast. See www.panarts.org.uk

Previously I was a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of Irish Studies at the Queen’s University, Belfast researching oral history accounts and experiences of political activists and trade unionists in Belfast’s munitions factories during the Second World War. I was also a tutor in contemporary Irish history and politics.

I have also been a lecturer in Sociology and Irish Studies at St. Mary’s University College, Strawberry Hill and Sociology and Community Youth Work at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.

While at the University of Ulster I was a member of the Programme Board for the ‘Youth Work in Contested Spaces’ Project, which was a joint project between the University of Ulster, Youth Action Northern Ireland and Public Achievement. This was a three year partnership project involving academics, policy makers and practitioners. The project involved researching and sharing ideas on working with young people in conflict and post conflict environments. This project took my research to South Africa, Israel and Palestine, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia as well as Northern Ireland.

Also during this period and also after joining the University of Southampton I was the Research Co-ordinator and Consultant for the ‘Catalyst Partnership’ Area Based Strategy project. This project was a joint initiative between Youth Action Northern Ireland and YMCA Ireland to involve young people in peer research regarding youth provision in three key locations in Northern Ireland. The findings of the young people involved were to inform the Area Based Strategy for youth provision for the next decade.

I have also worked in various parts of Africa teaching research methods, most notably Zambia where I am the European representative for the Chawama COBET Community School Project in Lusaka.

Show/hide all publications

• Journal Articles
• Grattan, Alan (2009) Segregated Britain: A Society in Conflict with its 'Radicalised' Youth? Youth and Policy, Spring 2009, (102), 35-52.
• Grattan, Alan (2008) Reflexive modernisation, existential anxiety and sense of identity: an exploration of 'perceived' identity in crisis. International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 7, (4), 93-102.
• Grattan, Alan and Morgan, Susan (2008) ‘Organic intellectuals’ as catalysts of change: working with young people in conflict and post conflict environments. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2, (6), 185-192.
• Grattan, Alan (2008) The alienation and radicalisation of youth: a ‘new moral panic’? International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 8, (3), 255-264.
• Grattan, Alan and Morgan, Susan (2008) Confronting segregation: lessons from developmental community youth work practice in conflict societies. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3 (In Press)
• Grattan, Alan and Morgan, Susan (2008) Confronting segregation: lessons from developmental community youth work practice in conflict societies. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3, (7), 1-10.

• Grattan, A. (2007) "The Search for Identity in the Face of Diversity: The case of the protestant ‘Loyalist’ Community of Northern Ireland". International Journal of Diversity in organisations, Communities & Nations, Volume 6, Number 4.
• Grattan, Alan (2007) The search for identity in the face of diversity: the case of the Protestant 'Loyalist' community of Northern Ireland. The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 6, (4), 51-59.
• Grattan, Alan (2006) Book Review. , In the Shadow of ‘Just Wars’: Violence, Politics and Humanitarian Action. Fabrice Weissman (ed.), in collaboration with Medecins Sans Frontieres. London: Hurst and Company, 2004, 372 pp, PB, ISBN 1-85065-737-8. Ethnic Conflict Research Digest, 6, (1), 61-63.
• Selection of International Conference Papers
• Grattan, Alan (2008) ‘Organic intellectuals’ as catalysts of change: working with young people in conflict and post conflict environments. In, 2nd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Granada, Spain, 10-13 Jul 2007. Melbourne, Australia, Common Ground Publishing, 10pp, 183-194.
• Grattan, Alan (2008) The alienation and radicalisation of youth: a ‘new moral panic’? In, 8th International Conference on Diversity, Montreal, Canada, 16-19 Jun 2008. Melbourne, Australia, Common Ground Publishing, 11pp, 253-263.
• Grattan, Alan and Morgan, Susan (2008) Confronting segregation: lessons from developmental community youth work practice in conflict societies. In, 3rd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Prato, Italy, 22-25 Jul 2008. Melbourne, Australia, Common Ground Publishing, 11pp.
• Grattan, Alan (2007) The search for identity in the face of diversity. In, 6th International conference on Diversity in Nations, Communities and Organisations., New Orleans, USA, 16-19 Jun 2006. Melbourne, Australia, Common Ground Publishing, 12pp, 49-61.
• Grattan, Alan (2007) Reflexive modernisation, existential anxiety and sense of identity: an exploration of ‘perceived’ identity in crisis. In, 7th International Conference on Diversity, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Jul 2007. Melbourne, Australia, Common Ground Publishing, 13pp, 91-103.
• Grattan,A. (2006) ‘The Search for Identity in the Face of Diversity’, 6th International Conference on Diversity, New Orleans, USA.
• Grattan, Alan (2006) Involving young people in action research. In, Regional Practice and Policy Seminar Series, Armagh City, Northern Ireland, Feb 2005. Belfast, Northern Ireland, Youth Action Northern Ireland, 8pp.
• Grattan, Alan (2004) Professionalism and youth work in contested spaces. In, Youth Work in Contested Spaces International Seminar, Cape Town, South Africa, 11-12 Mar 2004. .
• Grattan, Alan (2004) The nature of contested spaces: an international perspective. In, Youth Work in Contested Spaces International Conference, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, Jul 2004. .
• Monographs
• McMullan, Martin, McShane, Louis and Grattan, Alan (2006) “It’s always in the back of your mind” Newry and Armagh Area Based Strategy (Developing Children and Young people). Belfast, Northern Ireland, Youth Action Northern Ireland, 206pp.
• Youth Action Northern Ireland (YANI), and Grattan, Alan (2006) Involving young people in action research. Belfast, Northern Ireland, Youth Action Northern Ireland (Occasional Youth Work Practice Paper, 3)
• Book Section
• Grattan, Alan and Morgan, Susan (2007) Youthwork in conflict societies: from divergence to convergence. In, Magnuson, Doug and Baizerman, Michael (eds.) Work with Youth in Divided and Contested Societies. Rotterdam, Sense Publishers, 165-175.
• Grattan, Alan and Morgan, Susan (2007) Youth work in conflict societies: from divergence to convergence. In, Magnuson, Doug and Baizerman, Michael (eds.) Work with Youth in Divided and Contested Societies. Rotterdam, Netherlands, Sense, 165-175.