Welcome to the POLSIS Blog!
The Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) is one of the largest and best departments of it’s kind in the UK. The Department is committed to research excellence, quality learning and teaching provision, and the continuing professional development of its staff and students.
The research strategy of the Department concentrates upon the development of a vibrant and sustainable research culture, the publication of high-quality research, the targeting of external funding for our research and the development of a funded doctoral programme. The Department has come to establish itself as a centre of excellence in political science, political economy (comparative and international), international studies and international relations theory.
The Department has strong links to other universities across the world and a balance of expertise that covers all areas of the disciplines of Political Science and International Studies, as demonstrated by the activities of our research groups and thematic research clusters.
The Department has more than 50 PhD students working on a wide variety of research topics. Our students are at the core of our research culture, organising their own weekly research colloquium, setting research group agendas, participating vociferously in debate at the weekly Departmental Research Seminar, helping to organise conferences and workshops, and engaging in undergraduate teaching.
The POLSIS Blog provides a window into the wide range of academic activities taking place within the department. Specifically, it has three overriding aims:
- Facilitating interdisciplinary communication: Non-technical summaries of our ground-breaking research aim to facilitate communication between scholars working in different disciplines, both within the University of Birmingham and in the academy at large.
- Bolstering academic impact: By providing an outlet for timely academic responses to key contemporary issues and events, the blog aims also to help our students and researchers in contribute to policy debates and communicating with policymakers and non-academic commentators.
- Keeping a record: Finally, through podcasts, videos and review articles, the blog aims to maintain a record of the wide range of stimulating events taking place in POLSIS each week, offering students, researchers and the wider public the opportunity to listen again or watch back at a time of their convenience.
For further information, and for details on how to submit a blog, please contact the blog editor Gavin E L Hall via email geh430@bham.ac.uk