Dr Claire Dunlop
Biography
I graduated with a first class honours degree in Politics from the University of Strathclyde in 1997, and completed an MSc in Public Policy with distinction in 1998. In 2002, I completed my PhD on epistemic communities and knowledge production in the EU which was supervised by David Judge and examined by Laura Cram and Claudio Radaelli. Throughout my postgraduate years, I taught on a variety of introductory politics and EU policy courses at Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonia universities. While writing-up my thesis, I worked for the Scottish Consumer Council as a research consultant. This fuelled a desire to spend some time out of the library to get some hands-on experience linking research with policy. So, in October 2002, I started a research post at the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. Following this, I ran an NHS Health Scotland multi-methods study on teacher stress and occupational health policy at the University of Glasgow’s Public and Community Health Department with Ewan Macdonald. Though I enjoyed my time at the research-policy interface, the lure of academia proved too strong and, in August 2004, I took up a lectureship at the University Exeter. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2009.
The first five years of my academic career at Exeter have been incredibly rewarding and hugely challenging. Producing high quality research outputs in time for what was my first RAE was immensely gratifying. And, it has been a privilege to present much of this research at various international conferences. My four trips to the ECPR joint sessions stand out as highlights – I am yet to find anything else to rival the intellectual rewards of the special ECPR workshop formula. I will be convening a workshop at the 2011 St. Gallen ECPR Joint Sessions with Claudio Radaelli and Fabrizio Gilardi. I am fortunate to have been able to develop three areas of my research interests – science and decision-making; environmental regulation and policy learning – through funding from the British Academy (on bovine tuberculosis and epistemic communities), the Sustainable Development Commission (on regulation of sustainable development) and the European Research Council (on policy learning). This latter ERC grant is for a 4-year project led by my mentor Claudio Radaelli and runs from 2009-2012.
Of course there is more to being an academic than the pursuit of a research agenda. Communicating research findings or, teaching, is at the heart of university life and it is something that I throw myself into with relish. I teach public policy and administration focussed modules to all undergraduate years and was delighted to be shortlisted for the Best Lecturer Award in Exeter's Students Guild Teaching Awards 2010. At the MA level, I teach risk governance. I am also supervisor to four PhD students at various stages in their research and am delighted to be a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Like most academics, especial those in the early stages of their careers, I have held a number of administrative posts in my department. After being MA dissertation coordinator and UG coordinator, I spent three years as the department’s UG Admissions Tutor. Though time consuming, I think the admissions post is more rewarding than most – getting to meet lots of eager prospective students and enthuse about studying Politics and IR at Exeter is a pretty good form of admin! I am now the academic lead on employability and have helped set up the Politics Internship Programme for Undergraduate Students. I am also proud to lecture to year 12 students for the outreach initiative Realising Opportunities.
In addition to my research and teaching responsibilities at Exeter, I am also involved in teaching and knowledge transfer to the wider academic profession and public sector. Most notably, since 2008 I have been privileged to teach on the Masters in Public Affairs (MPA) at the internationally renowned Sciences Po in Paris where, each Spring, I give seminars on the Risk Governance course coordinated by Professors Olivier Borraz and Pierre-Benoit Joly. Other contributors include Sheila Jasanoff (Harvard), Diane Vaughan (Columbia) and Henry Rothstein (King’s College, London). The contacts made at Sciences Po-Paris have been invaluable in the design and development of aspects of the Exeter MPA. In February 2011 I joined the Group of Experts on Risk Management of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
Though I’m as bad as most academics at striking a healthy work-life balance, in my spare time I enjoy travelling with my girlfriend, tipples with pals, playing with the cat and golf (though not simultaneously!), supporting Rangers and Exeter City, reading biographies and spotting blimps in the sky.
