William 'Liam' Grugan

Liam is a DPhil candidate in International Development, based at Balliol College. His research uses quantitative and mixed methods to study the political economy of postwar reconstruction, the politics and history of the MENA region, and the strategy and impact of U.S. interventionism. His DPhil project focuses on the role of U.S.-allocated funds in shaping the post-2003 recovery and long-term economic development of Iraq.

Before transitioning to doctoral research, he completed his MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies here at Oxford, specializing in using computational methods to study the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and comparative authoritarian politics. Prior to this, he served as Program Manager for Employer and Alumni Relations at Columbia University's Center for Career Education. At CCE, he managed employers under the umbrella of Politics and Policy, working with government agencies, law firms, think tanks, NGOs, and other sustainability-/policy-driven organizations.

He is also a graduate of the Dual Bachelor’s Program between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University in the City of New York, through which he received a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern and European Languages and Culture from Trinity and a separate bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (with a concentration in German Literature and Cultural History) from Columbia.