Donnacha Ó Beacháin is Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, where he lectures on post-Soviet politics, unrecognised states, Irish studies and foreign policy. He has conducted research in all fifteen post-Soviet states and in each of the protracted conflict zones, including eight years living and working in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Professor Ó Beacháin is the author and editor of several books including From Partition to Brexit: The Irish Government and Northern Ireland, which is the 2019 recipient of the book of the year award from the Political Studies Association of Ireland. He has twice been awarded the accolade ‘Champion of European Research’ by Ireland’s National Support Network for Horizon 2020. In May 2022 he was awarded the President’s Research Award by DCU for outstanding contribution to the humanities and social sciences. His forthcoming book The Dynamics of Unrecognised States in the Former Soviet Union will be published by Routledge.