Research

Politics at UWE has an excellent and growing reputation, in the UK and abroad, for innovative and high quality research and knowledge exchange. This was recognised nationally by the award of a 4 grade in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Key areas of research include human rights and global ethics, international security, the politics of agriculture and food, EU politics and policy, political parties and elections (especially the US and UK), the politics of recognition, the politics of the Caribbean, and politics and the emotions. More details of these and individual staff interests can be found on the Staff pages. Members of the department are also active in the university's research centres, including the Centre for Psycho-Social Studies, the Centre for Local Democracy and the Network for Global Ethics and Human Rights. If you are interested in postgraduate study see details of our PhD programme.

Dr James Pattison has been declared Joint Winner of the UK Political Studies Association's Sir Ernest Barker Prize for the best PhD thesis in Political Theory for 2006/07. His thesis examined international humanitarian intervention and the question of where the obligation to intervene should fall. The judges praised his rigour, lucidity, and the coherence of his arguments as well as his scrupulous scholarship and breadth of approach.

Funding for research has been obtained from a diverse range of sources including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Royal Society of Arts, the British Academy, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The department currently is hosting a research seminar series funded by the ESRC: politics and the emotions, and a research seminar funded by the Bristish Academy: Governance in the Non-Independent Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities.

Members of the department have carried out research for a wide range of public, private and voluntary organisations including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development, Bristol City Council, and the BBC