Séamus Duncan McKillop (2024)
- PhD Candidate
- Structural Symbolic Interactionism and Social Identity Theory: A Comprehensive Synthesis
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About
I am an Irish-Australian doctoral student with a long-standing interest in language, theories of self, history, rhetoric and educational reform and accessibility. Having formerly studied seven languages in my undergraduate (Latin, Ancient Greek, Coptic, Biblical Hebrew, Italian, French and German) with a focus on culture, semantics and etymology, I progressed into a master's in history with a keen focus on philosophy, historiography and historical methods, and the understanding of identity throughout time and place in international relations and social psychological theories. I thereafter found myself in a doctoral program at Cambridge, continuing my fascination with theories of identity-processes and with a passion for synthesising complex ideas, testing and discussing their methodological applications, and ensuring plain-language and visual accessibility as part of an active stance towards education reform and accessibility across all levels of my work.
Alongside my studies and prior to Cambridge, I was also a volunteer in the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, with most of my skills being directed towards heavy vehicle response driving, first aid and community engagement. I also progressed from this state government role into a federal government role as an Information Officer at Australia's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), where I focused on open-source intelligence concerning natural and man-made disasters, the day-to-day and long-term impacts on people's lives and identities, and the accessible delivery of timely information to key government stakeholders to inform emergency response strategies and actions.
I am also passionate but quiet about my enduring engagement in creative writing, and take much interest to writing stories short and long, poetry and the heavy use of metaphorical language. I cannot say that I am good at this, but I try and it brings me joy nonetheless.
Supervisor
Prof. Hazem Kandil
Research
My research interests include sociological, social psychological and psychological theories of identity-processes. I particularly focus on historical theories, Pragmatist psychology, the American tradition of Structural Symbolic Interactionism (also known as identity theory) and the European tradition of Social Identity Theory. Within these areas, I am strongly concerned with the fundamentals and histories of ideas, their synthesis and their accessibility to technical and non-technical audiences across written and visual formats.
Outside of these interests, I am also fascinated with the pedagogy and teaching of rhetoric. I hope to help students find ways to express their own ideas in a wide range of formats to promote educational accessibility, dismantle barriers privileging certain forms of communication, and to ensure that education begins to focus on the immeasurable wellbeing of the individual and their engagement with society and their own selves for the common good, rather than reducing the individual to credentials, grades, reports and other 'measurable' aspects of an education that predominate in our capitalist culture and systems. For this, my research is ongoing and evolves largely through the practice of teaching, which is something I am indescribably passionate about.
Teaching and supervision
- SOC2: Social Theory (Supervisor)
I am also open to supervising other papers, if needed.