Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh

Ciaran's Story

Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh is a Professor and Head of Department in Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University. He has a Bachelor of Politics and History from University College Dublin, and a Master and PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University.

For over a decade Ciaran has undertaken research on negotiations between mining companies and Indigenous peoples in Australia.

In recent years, with the help of an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, he has extended this research to a comparative study of commercial negotiations involving Indigenous people in Australia and Canada. This study documented:

• negotiations in a range of different legal, policy and cultural contexts;
• examined the causes of success and failure in negotiations;
• and on this basis identified strategies which allow Indigenous people to maximise the benefits they receive from negotiated agreements with resource developers

Ciaran's academic pursuits and research have also focussed on policy analysis and public maangement, with a particular interest in policy evaluation, policy implementation and service delivery.

Ciaran's Achievements

Ciaran has published substantial work dealing with each of these areas separately.

He has also combined his interests in Indigenous issues and in policy analysis and public management, including running a major research project on accountability in the delivery of services to Indigneous Australians.

As a Director, Ciaran hopes to gain a deeper understanding of contemporary challenges facing the Indigenous communities in Cape York communities.