AHSS Report European International Studies Association (EISA) Conference in Berlin.

The EISA conference presented a great opportunity for me to cultivate a burgeoning research agenda and solidify new research contacts in the field. Having recently published a paper with Natalie Jester in Critical Studies on Security (‘Arms, aviation, and apologies: mapping the Boeing social media response to the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash’), I wanted to continue to expand my work on interrogating practices of secrecy and transparency, especially when it comes to dealing with injustice. I presented a paper entitled ‘Transparency, Secrecy and The Gendered Politics of Harm: Responding to the Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland’. This paper explores debates around apology and public inquiry in the aftermath of gendered harms in Ireland and interrogates discourses of ‘keeping secrets’ to examine the gendered work they do in offering some truths/transparency whilst obscuring other issues. After very helpful discussions with participants, I hope to develop this into a journal article in future months. I was also able to connect to two new research networks, one in the area of secrecy, ignorance and sexuality and the other on public inquiry. EISA was, as always, a very beneficial conference to attend in terms of my own research as well as wider networking and collaboration.