John O’Brennan holds the Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at Maynooth University and is Director of the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies and Vice-President of the Association for Contemporary European Studies (IACES).  His research focuses on EU Enlargement policy and the EU relationship with Eastern and South Eastern Europe. He also works on Ireland’s experience of EU membership and, more recently, Brexit.  He is a member of the Irish government’s Brexit Stakeholder Group and the ‘Future of Europe’ group of the Irish Institute for European and International Affairs (IIEA). He is the author of a number of books on EU enlargement and is a regular commentator on European integration for Irish and international media outlets. Most recently, he has edited a special issue of Irish Political Studies (November 2019, with Prof. Mary C. Murphy) examining Ireland’s relationship with the European Union.