Dr Cormac Behan joined the School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University in August 2024. Prior to joining the school, he was a lecturer in criminology at the Technological University Dublin. He has also taught at the University of Sheffield and University College Dublin. Prior to taking up an academic position, Cormac taught history and politics in Irish prisons for fourteen years. At Maynooth University, he will teach a range of modules across the criminology programmes.
Cormac read history and politics for his BA degree at University College Dublin. He has a M.Litt. in history from Trinity College Dublin, and a Higher Diploma and MA in adult and community education from Maynooth University. He completed his PhD as an Ad Astra Scholar at the Institute of Criminology, University College Dublin. In 2016, he became a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Cormac’s research interests include penal history, comparative penal policy, prison education, citizenship and punishment, and the politics of penal reform. His PhD research provided the material for his book, Citizens Convicts: Prisoners, Politics and the Vote, published in 2014 by Manchester University Press. His research has been published in a range of peer-reviewed journals, including the British Journal of Criminology, the Prison Journal, and the Journal of Social History. Most recently he was co-author (with Dr Abigail Stark) of the textbook, Prisons and Imprisonment: An Introduction.