SHANAHAN RESEARCH GROUP

Their core work

Shanahan Research Group is a Dublin-based specialist research unit focused on international relations, area studies, and the political economy of emerging powers — particularly in the Caspian region, Central Asia, and India. Their work combines geopolitical analysis with development studies, examining how regions outside the EU integrate into global trade, governance, and security architectures. In practice, they contribute to large doctoral training networks as a specialist partner, providing thematic and regional expertise that broader university consortia typically lack in-house. Their research spans foreign policy, democratisation, gender, and the socioeconomic dimensions of globalisation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earliest project (CASPIAN, 2015-2018) the group was primarily focused on a specific geographic corridor — the Caspian basin, Central Asia, and the post-Soviet neighbourhood — with Russia and Iran as key reference points. By the time Global India launched (2017-2021), the geographic frame had widened dramatically to South Asia and the global stage, while the thematic vocabulary expanded to include world economy, democratisation, gender, climate change, hi-tech industry, and poverty. This trajectory suggests a deliberate shift from regional specialist to comparative emerging-powers analyst, capable of connecting specific country cases to broader questions of globalisation and world order.

The group is moving toward comparative analysis of emerging powers and their integration into global governance structures, making them a credible partner for future projects on EU–Asia relations, global trade governance, or the political economy of the green and digital transitions in non-Western contexts.

How they like to work

Shanahan Research Group has never led a project — both H2020 participations were as partner or participant inside larger MSCA training consortia. With 24 unique partners across 18 countries drawn from just two projects, they operate inside genuinely international networks rather than a closed circle of repeat collaborators. This profile indicates a specialist contributor model: they are brought in for their regional and thematic expertise rather than for coordination capacity or infrastructure, which means working with them is straightforward but they are unlikely to drive project administration.

Despite only two projects, Shanahan has built connections with 24 partners spanning 18 countries — an unusually wide geographic spread that reflects the inherently international nature of MSCA doctoral networks. Their network is concentrated in European academia but reaches into Central Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern institutions through the subject matter of their projects.

What sets them apart

Few research groups in Ireland combine deep area studies expertise in both the post-Soviet space and South Asia — Shanahan sits at that uncommon intersection. Their value to a consortium is not broad disciplinary coverage but precise regional and geopolitical knowledge that is difficult to source from general international relations departments. For projects addressing EU external policy, emerging-market dynamics, or the geopolitics of climate and trade, they bring a rare combination of academic rigour and regional specificity.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Global India
  The only funded project in their portfolio (EUR 110,698), it is notable for its multi-sectoral ambition — connecting India's rise to gender, climate, hi-tech, security, and world trade within a single doctoral training framework.
• CASPIAN
  Rare EU-funded doctoral programme focused on the Caspian corridor (Central Asia, Caucasus, Russia, Iran), a geopolitically sensitive region underrepresented in MSCA networks.