Padraig O'Malley was born in 1942 in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. He was educated at the University College in Dublin, Yale Tufts and Harvard Universities in the United States where he obtained his degree of Master of Economic Science and a PHD in Economics. In the 1970's and 1980's Padraig O'Malley spent time in Northern Ireland where he got involved with this country's conflict. While working with all the political parties to the conflict he managed to convene the international conferences to discuss and try to find solutions to the political problems of this country. He has lectured and written extensively on the conflict in Northern Ireland and has won a number of prizes for his books regarding this country. During the 1980's O'Malley has extensively travelled to South Africa to meet with a wide cross section of the community including government ministers, members of parliament, church leaders, academics and the ANC officials in Lusaka. He also held meetings with South African Black Labour Leaders of the trade union movement as well as with prominent anti-apartheid leaders. He was interested in the way that South Africa had gone from apartheid to a racially integrated democracy without a civil war. O'Malley participated in organizing meetings between representatives of South Africa and Northern Ireland. O'Malley has monitored elections in South Africa on behalf of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. In 2007 he became involved in working towards reconciliation in Iraq. He is presently working as a professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.