Richard English is Professor of Politics at Queen's University Belfast.  Between 2011 and 2016 he was Wardlaw Professor of Politics in the School of International Relations, and Director of the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, at the University of St Andrews.  Between 2021 and 2025 he was Director of the Institute for Global Peace, Security, and Justice at Queen's University Belfast.  His books include the award-winning studies Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (2003) and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland (2006).  His most recent books are Does Counter-Terrorism Work? (2024), Does Terrorism Work? A History (2016), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism (co-edited, 2019), and The Cambridge History of Terrorism (edited, 2021).  He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Member of the Academia Europaea, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Honorary Fellow of Keble College Oxford, and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. He has held visiting or affiliate positions at Stanford University, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago.  In 2018 he was awarded a CBE for services to the understanding of modern-day terrorism and political history. In 2019 he was awarded the Royal Irish Academy's Gold Medal in the Social Sciences. 

Professor English's research focuses on the history of political violence, terrorism, and nationalism, with a particular focus on Ireland and Britain.  His books include: 

Does Counter-Terrorism Work? (OUP, 2024)

The Cambridge History of Terrorism (CUP, 2021, edited)

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism (OUP, 2019, co-edited)

Does Terrorism Work? A History (OUP, 2016)

Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism (OUP, 2015, edited)

Modern War: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2013)

Terrorism: How to Respond (OUP, 2009)

Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland (Pan Macmillan, 2006)

Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (Pan Macmillan, 2003)

Ernie O'Malley: IRA Intellectual (OUP, 1998)

Radicals and the Republic: Socialist Republicanism in the Irish Free State 1925-1937 (OUP, 1994).