Prior to DCU, he undertook his Ph.d at at the European University Institute, Florence, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Micklitz. He defended his Ph.d in June 2017 and is currently re-writing it into a monograph format with a view to publication in 2019. The thesis, entitled Tort Law Beyond the Reasonable Man: Re-thinking Tort Law Beyond the State, concerned the liability of so-called secondary actors in governance networks. He argues that a new normative concept of liability, neither individualistic nor organisational, is required to take account of these secondary actors' societal responsibility.