Dr Eva Urban-Devereux is a Senior Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast, an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University Belfast, a Research Associate of the Centre for Breton and Celtic Studies, University of Rennes 2, a Life Member of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, and (since 2021) a contributing editor of New Theatre Quarterly, Cambridge University Press. She has held a three-year British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, a Region of Brittany Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Centre for Breton and Celtic Studies, University of Rennes 2 where she was also a lecturer at the English Department; and she has lectured, tutored, and supervised student research at Queen's University Belfast, the University of Cambridge, and University College Dublin. She holds a PhD, an MA (First Class Hons) and HDip (2:1 Hons) from UCD, and she was awarded a UCD Postgraduate Open Scholarship and an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Doctoral Research Scholarship. She is also a graduate (1st with distinction) from DIT Rathmines Conservatory of Music and Drama and has performed in and directed theatre productions.

Eva Urban is the author of two books: 

Community Politics and the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011) and La Philosophie des Lumières dans le Théâtre Breton: Tradition et Influences/Enlightenment Philosophy in Breton Theatre (Rennes: TIR Université de Rennes 2, 2019), and her most recent essays are 'Fractured Liminality in Kabosh's Green and Blue and Lives in Translation' in New Carthographies: Nomadic Methodologies: Contemporary Arts, Culture and Politics in Ireland, edited by Anne Goarzin and Maria Parsons (Peter Lang, 2020), the journal article 'Spectres of Fiction: New Political Contexts for the Playboy of the Western World', Etudes Irlandaises, 2020, the chapter 'Shared Futures or a Rerun of the 1930s? Community, Trauma, and Reification in The People of Gallagher Street and Planet Belfast in Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: Building a Shared Future from a Troubled Past?, edited by Lesley Lelourec and Grainne O'Keeffe-Vigneron (Peter Lang, 2021), and the forthcoming journal article 'Le théâtre ultra-contemporain nord-irlandais Kabosh: entre Brexit, frontière et Covid' (the ultra-contemporary Northern Irish theatre of Kabosh: between Brexit, Border and Covid' in Théâtre/Public.

She also recently co-edited (with Dr Lisa FitzGerald) the round-table discussion 'Human Rights and Theatre Practice in Northern Ireland' with Rosemary Jenkinson, David Grant, and Tom Maguire, which appeared in the journal New Theatre Quarterly (Cambridge University Press) in December 2020. 

She has published numerous articles on Irish Studies, internationalist and cosmopolitan theatre practices, humanist drama and Enlightenment in the journals New Theatre Quarterly, Etudes Irlandaises, Caleidoscopio, and chapters in book collections. Her current research explores intersections of drama, theatre, performance, cultural heritage, philosophy, peace-building and social justice in Northern Ireland and in a wider European context. She studies the role of enlightenment humanism in intercultural drama in Celtic Europe since the eighteenth century, emphasizing contemporary cosmopolitan performances and community engagements opposed to conflict and divisions.

Publications

Books

Eva Urban. La Philosophie des Lumières dans le Théâtre Breton: Tradition et Influences/Enlightenment Philosophy in Breton Theatre. Rennes: TIR Université de Rennes 2, 2019. 108 p.

Eva Urban. Community Politics and the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011. 303 p.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Eva Urban. 'Le théâtre ultra-contemporain Nord-irlandais Kabosh: entre Brexit, frontière et Covid' (the ultra-contemporary Northern Irish theatre of Kabosh: between Brexit, Border and Covid'). Forthcoming: Théâtre/Public.

Eva Urban. 'Shared Futures or a Rerun of the 1930s? Community, Trauma, and Reification in The People of Gallagher Street and Planet Belfast. In Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: Building a Shared Future from a Troubled Past? Ed. Lesley Lelourec and Grainne O'Keeffe-Vigneron. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2021. pp. 151-172.

Eva Urban. 'Spectres of Fiction: New Political Contexts for the Playboy of the Western World'. Etudes Irlandaises, 45-1 2020, 103-117.

Eva Urban. 'Fractured Liminality in Kabosh's Green and Blue and Lives in Translation. In New Cartographies, Nomadic Methodologies: Contemporary Arts, Culture and Politics in Ireland. Ed. Anne Goarzin and Maria Parsons. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2020. pp. 127-144.

FitzGerald, Urban, Jenkinson, Grant, Maguire. 'Human Rights and Theatre Practice in Northern Ireland: A Round-table Discussion', NTQ (Cambridge University Press) Vol 36 Issue 4 November 2020. 279-291. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-theatre-quarterly/article/abs/human-rights-and-theatre-practice-in-northern-ireland-a-roundtable-discussion/7F8EAB6C243A9DE15080033D67886B70

Eva Urban. 'Multilingual Theatre in Brittany: Celtic Enlightenment and Cosmopolitanism'. NTQ (Cambridge University Press), Vol 34, August 2018. 283-297. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-theatre-quarterly/article/multilingual-theatre-in-brittany-celtic-enlightenment-and-cosmopolitanism/A8C79C4AAE9AB0669DD01C5DDEA98CFA

Eva Urban. 'Intercultural Arrivals and Encounters with Trauma in Contemporary Irish Drama'. The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance. Ed. Eamonn Jordan and Eric Weitz. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. pp. 555-574.

Eva Urban and Joseph Long (eds). Hélène Cixous. 'Humanity doesn't exist yet. Democracy as a kind of prophecy'. A Roundtable Discussion with Hélène Cixous. NTQ, Vol. 33 August 2017. pp. 203-215.

Eva Urban. 'Reification and Modern Drama: An Analysis, a Critique, and a Manifesto', NTQ, Vol 32, August 2016, 256-268. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-theatre-quarterly/article/reification-and-modern-drama-an-analysis-a-critique-and-a-manifesto/B9533A5D4CA5000AF8481E7F45E9BC07

Eva Urban. ' "The rest is all but leather or prunella": Political Protest in poetic songs from Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and England'. In Bretagne/Irlande: quelles relations? Brittany/Ireland: what relations?. Ed. Yann Bévant, Laurent Daniel. Brest: CRBC, 2016. pp. 197-210.

Eva Urban. 'Actors in the Same Tragedy': Bertrand Russell, Humanism, and The Conquest of Happiness'. NTQ, Vol 31 November 2015. 343-358. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-theatre-quarterly/article/actors-in-the-same-tragedy-bertrand-russell-humanism-and-the-conquest-of-happiness/F3665B339C34590F41D2AB57E461D8A6

Eva Urban. 'Acts of justice in Ireland: Social Utopia and Natural Law in a deconstructive staging of Tennyson's The Foresters: Robin Hood and Maid Marian.' In New Critical Perspectives in Franco-Irish Relations. Ed. Anne Goarzin. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2015. pp. 109-126.

Eva Urban. 'Lessing's Nathan the Wise: From the Enlightenment to the Berliner Ensemble.' NTQ, Vol. May 2014. 183-196. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-theatre-quarterly/article/abs/lessings-nathan-the-wise-from-the-enlightenment-to-the-berliner-ensemble/AC667EDCFBE83F6D853DAA10F852CC39

Eva Urban. 'Identité de l'Ulster forgée dans les tranchées: Regarde les fils de l'Ulster marchant vers la Somme de Frank McGuinness.' In La France et L'Irlande: Destins Croisées. Ed. Catherine Maignant. Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2013. pp. 163-178.

Eva Urban. 'The condition of female laundry workers in Ireland 1922-1996: A case of labour camps on trial.' Etudes Irlandaises, 37.2. Autumn/Winter 2012. 49-46.

Eva Urban. 'Staging the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama: Dave Duggan's play AH6905.' 'EncenandoO Processo De Paz No TeatroContemporâneo Da Irlanda Do Norte A Obra AH6905 de Dave Duggan.' Transl. by Isabel Canhoro. Caleidoscópio, Perspectivas interdisciplinares da Comunicação, 2008. No. 8, Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2008. pp. 85-92.

Eva Urban. 'The Performance of Power in Convictions.' Etudes Irlandaises. 32.2 Autumn 2007. 173-183.

Other Publications

Eva Urban. Northern Irish Drama. Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Literature. Ed. Andrew Hadfield. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. 29 p.

Eva Urban. Post-war Irish Drama. Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Drama. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 51 p. 

Eva Urban. 'Tom Maguire, Eugene McNulty: The Theatre of Marie Jones.' Book review, NTQ, Vol. 32 November 2016. 396-397.

Eva Urban. 'Eugene McNulty: The Ulster Literary Theatre and the Northern Revival.' Book review. Irish Studies Review, 17 (1) 2009. 115-133.