Professional Activities
Shirlow is the Independent Chair of the OFMDFM Employers' Guidance on Recruiting People with Conflict-Related Convictions Working Group and a board member of the mental health charity Threshold. He is a Visiting Research Professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. He sits on the editorial boards of Irish Political Studies and International Planning Studies.
Knowledge Transfer and Exploitation: Commissioned Research
A significant body of knowledge transfer and exploitation has been linked to utilisation of GIS and spatial analysis techniques via commissioned research, evaluations and reports since 2000. This has included;
2000: Mapping of health service usage in Belfast (Department of Health).
2002: Mapping Imact of CCTV in Derry/Londonderry (Derry City Traders)
2002: Mapping Youth in Northern Ireland (Prince's Trust).
2002-2003: Mapping of social economy sites in Northern Ireland (North Down Borough Council).
2001: Mapping of labour recruitment pool (Desmonds)
2002: Mapping labour recruitment pool (Nortel)
2003: Mapping labour recruitment pools (Moy Park)
2004: Mapping of labour recruitment pools (Marks and Spencer).
2006: Mapping of segregation in Northern Ireland (Belfast Interface Project).
2006: Production of draft action plan for interface communities in North Belfast (NBCAU/Department of Social Development)
2006: Evaluations of Dunlop Report and NBCAU programme (NBCAU/Department of Social Development).
2006-2007: Strategy development report regarding attacks upon essential service workers (Northern Ireland Office).
Knowledge Transfer and Exploitation: Media
Shirlow has undertaken numerous and significant media interviews on conflict, segregation, the peace process, violence, crime and related cultural and political issues. Knowledge transfer via the media has been of high international standing. With regard to the recent urban disorder in England I was interviewed and recorded by El País, Diário de Notícias - Lisboa, Terrra Chile, Diário de Notícias (Brazil), Washington Times, Business Week and by national BBC News. Other interviews and reports have been undertaken within the international media for example, Reuters, Bloomberg, Dagens Nyheter, El Monde, Welt, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, Irish Times, News-Medical net, ABS CBN News, Observador Global, Courrier International, Washington Post, Xornal, Malaysia Star, Spiked, New Statesman, Daily Star (Lebanon), Fort Worth Star, ISN, Demokraten, St. Louis Dispatch Post, Boston Globe, The Independent, Presswire, The Hindu, Irish Independent, New York Times and The Economist.
Around 200+ radio and TV commentaries have been made for Radio 4, Radio Ulster, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, all of the main national news programmes on the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN. As well as BBC World, CNN, Al Jazeera, CBS and national outlets in Ireland, Canada, Iraq, Macedonia, France, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Australia and the Czech Republic.
Opinion pieces have also been produced in The Observer, New Statesman, The Belfast Telegraph, The Newsletter.