Research
The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise confirms the status of the department as a leading centre of research on politics and international relations. Politics at Exeter is among the top 6 departments in the UK comparing the highest standards of world leading research. 85% of our research output is of international quality.
With an annual research income in in excess of £1m, we enjoy the support of the Economic and Social, the Arts and Humanities, and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councils, European sources such as EU and European Science Foundation, and Charitable Foundations such as Nuffield, Cadbury and Leverhulme. The results of our research has been published in all the major political science journals and by the major Anglophone and continental academic and University Presses such as Blackwell, Sage, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Amsterdam, Kluwer, Peter Lang, etc.
Our reputation for high quality has helped us recruit staff with excellent records, who have been engaged in international collaborative research on electoral democracy, citizenship and identity, radicalisation, cities in conflict, ethical statecraft, global governance and regulatory policy - providing us with a breadth and depth of expertise across all political disciplines.
Our research interests fall into five areas of interest:
- Comparative Political Behaviour & Institutions
- Middle Eastern and North African Politics
- International Studies
- Political Theory
- Public Policy
All academic staff in the Department are active within at least one of these groups. Postgraduate students, whether working on their own or within larger projects led by staff members, are also integral members of clusters. Public Policy and Political Theory have journals associated with them and operate their own research seminars. There is a joint Departmental Research Seminar which hosts visiting speakers and provides a forum for discussion of staff research papers.
In addition to the clusters, there are also a number of University and School research centres which are more focussed and integrated, in many cases with external funding such as the Strategy and Security Institute (SSI), the Exeter Centre for Ethnopolitics, the Centre for Turkish Studies and the Centre for Intermedia. These may fall within or across cluster boundaries. Currently there are Centres for Centre for Elections, Media and Parties (CEMap), the Centre for European Governance, the Centre of Advanced International Studies and the Centre for Rural Policy Research.
Most of us also work with groups of scholars in other institutions, and within international networks. Details of many of these can be found on our projects page or individual staff pages.
There is a strong research culture in the department, which is reflected in our regular seminars and workshops and visits from internationally renowned scholars.
We welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students. Please initially contact the staff member closest to your interests. The Department has been successful in securing Scholarships from a range of research councils and there are some bursaries and scholarships available from within the university and school.
