Declan M. Downey, was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Legal & Diplomatic History from the University of Cambridge in 1993. Since 1995, he has been lecturing in European and Japanese Legal and Diplomatic History at University College Dublin, where he directs the BCL degree programme in Law with History. Also, he is a founding member of the Centre for Japanese Studies at UCD.
In 2009, he was the first Irish citizen to be elected to membership of the Spanish Royal Academy of History (fd.1733). Since 2018, he is an Assessor for the Publications Board of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
His extensive publications and leading role in major international research projects have been recognised with international distinctions and awards, including Austrian, Spanish and Japanese state honours.
