Eileen Ryan delivers a lecture titled Imperial Anxieties: Italian Colonialism and the Formation of an Official Mind, which examines the impact of the rise of the Fascist Party in the Libyan territories. The lecture also tackles the subsequent tension between Party leaders and colonial officials over the future of Italian imperialism.

She received her Ph.D. in Modern European History from Columbia University in 2012, where she wrote her dissertation on the relationships between Italian officials and Muslim notables in the Sufi order of the Sanusiyya. As an Assistant Professor of History, Eileen Ryan specializes in Italian colonialism in North Africa.