Studentships for prospective PhD students

The Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster is pleased to offer two Studentships for prospective PhD students.

Applications are invited for the following awards which are tenable for up to three years for full-time study:

2 fee waivers (home/EU*) and £3,000 per year for 3 years

*Please note that only Home/EU students are eligible to apply

We are looking for high quality prospective doctoral students who will contribute to the three core areas of research within the department.

• The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD): Established in 1989 CSD is internationally renowned for the quality of its research into the theory and practice of democracy, particularly in Europe, the Arab world and in the United States. Key potential supervisors in this area include Chantal Mouffe, John Owens, Dibyesh Anand, Abdelwahab el-Effendi, Paulina Tambakaki and Maria Holt.
• The Security and International Relations Programme: This new programme includes a number of research strands reflecting the work of its internationally renowned members including intervention and statebuilding, borders and identify, and security theory. Key potential supervisors include David Chandler, Roland Dannreuther, Dibyesh Anand, Aidan Hehir, Patricia Hogwood and Thomas Moore.

·         The Governance and Sustainability Programme: This cluster analyses the interrelationship between, on the one hand, sustainable development and sustainability discourses and, on the other, diverse forms of multi-level and multi-actor governance processes. Key potential supervisors include Simon Joss, Liza Griffin, Daniel Greenwood, and Tassilo Herrschel.

In the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise 60% of the Department’s submissions in Politics and International Relations were “recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour”. Based in the heart of London, we have an active research culture include regular seminars and conferences, including the highly regarded CSD Encounter as well research seminars linked to each of our core research areas.

Members of staff and their supervision interests

Dibyesh Anand is interested in supervising topics relating to politics and international relations of China and India, security and development, identity politics, and IR theory for the non-Western world.

Ricardo Blaug provides supervision in democratic theory and public policy, democracy and deliberation in organisations and in critical social and political theory.

David Chandler is interested in supervising topics relating to intervention and international statebuilding (fragile states, state failure, critiques of the liberal peace, Responsibility to Protect, the export of good governance and the rule of law, civil society-building, institutional capacity-building etc) and to critical work on agent-centered approaches, empowerment, resilience and capacity-building more broadly, especially in relation to the work of Amartya Sen and Douglass North.

Roland Dannreuther is interested in supervising topics relating to security studies, the international politics of energy, the regional and foreign politics of the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia, and in historical sociology.

Dr Abdelwahab El-Affendi is interested in research dealing with Muslim politics (including the politics of Muslim minorities) and questions of democracy and democratisation in general, in particular the interconnections between democracy and violence.

Daniel Greenwood's research supervision interests include: (a) policy analysis, particularly in relation to complex issues in environmental and social policy; (b) the relationship between governance, democracy and sustainable development; (c) the interface between politics and markets and departures from mainstream economics including Austrian, Ecological and Evolutionary approaches.

Liza Griffin is interested in supervising topics in the areas of environmental politics, the governance of ‘wicked’ problems and political ecology. She has theoretical interests in power, knowledge, democracy and space.

Aidan Hehir is interested in supervising topics in the area of humanitarian intervention, critical approaches to statebuilding and the contemporary situation in Kosovo.

Tassilo Herrschel specialises in topics on European development and integration, especially the comparative transformation of post-communist central and (post-Soviet) eastern Europe, the political economies of regional development and competitiveness in response to globalisation, urban politics and governance in Europe and North America.

Patricia Hogwood has research interests in European Union governance and policymaking, multilevel governance, the politics of immigration control, consumer behaviour and political identity, German politics, and historical institutionalism.

Maria Holt is interested in supervising topics relating to democracy and Islam, women and violence in the Arab world, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and questions of diaspora and identity, particularly with regard to Palestinian refugee communities.

Simon Joss’s main areas of research supervision include (a) the governance of environmental sustainability, with special focus on public accountability and multi-level governance, eco-cities and urban sustainability, and the politics of climate change; as well as (b) science and technology studies, with focus on technology innovation and policy analysis.

Chantal Mouffe is interested in supervising dissertations on democratic political theory.

John Owens is interested in supervising dissertations on United States government and politics, including US foreign politics, comparative legislative studies and comparative legislative-executive relations.

Paulina Tambakaki is interested in supervising topics relating to democratic theory, citizenship and human rights, diasporic politics, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism.

Contact

Dr. Maria Holt
MPhil/ PhD DPIR Programme Co-ordinator

32-38 Wells Street
London, W1T 3UW

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Tel: +44 (0)20 7911 5000 ext 7611
Email: holtm@westminster.ac.uk

For details of how to apply, visit:

westminster.ac.uk/research/research-studentships/applications-guidance

Deadline for applications is 5pm on Thursday 31 March 2011

For more information about how our PhD programme is run, please refer to the Department of Politics & International Relations website westminster.ac.uk/schools/humanities/politics-and-international-relations

If you have not already done so, we would encourage you to discuss your proposal with an appropriate member of the academic staff (you can find details of staff at westminster.ac.uk/schools/humanities/politics-and-international-relations/people).