School of Social and Political Science

Andrea Christou

Job Title

PhD Student

Research interests

Research interests

European foreign and security policy; discourse analysis; discursive institutionalism; public opinion; communicative action; deliberative democracy; trade policy; frames

Background

RESEARCH PROJECT

My research examined the influence of citizen discourse on the decision-making of EU foreign policy in different types of democracies. Through a discursive institutionalist perspective, it analysed how discourse occurs and matters differently in the Republic of Cyprus and the Republic of Ireland and what legitimating effect this may have on citizens' perceptions of the EU's democratic legitimacy.

SUPERVISORS

Dr Carmen Gebhard

Dr Chad Damro

QUALIFICATIONS

2019-2020 Master of Philosophy in International Relations and Politics at the University of Cambridge 

2016-2019 Bachelor of Arts in History and Minor in Political Science at the University of South Florida, Summa Cum Laude

  • Green & Gold Scholar Scholarship
  • Honors College Member

ROLES

SEP 2021-Present Tutor, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

  • Comparative Politics in a Globalised World
  • International Political Economy

JAN 2022-Present Co-convenor of the Europa Postgraduate Research Group, a postgraduate forum for European affairs. We provide a space for researchers, in particular PhD students and Early Career Researchers, to present their work in European studies, to receive feedback and to exchange ideas in a friendly and constructive environment.

JAN 2022-DEC 2023 Research Assistant to Professor Chad Damro for the Horizon-2020 project ENGAGE.

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

19-20 OCT 2023 Presented the policy brief 'Coordinating External Action Beyond Crisis' at the ENGAGE General Assembly in Barcelona, Spain.

26 MAY 2023 Presented PhD case study at the '10th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus' at LSE.

3-5 MAY 2023 Presented 'External Action Plus: Case Studies on Trade, Development and Humanitarian Aid' at European Union in International Affairs conference.

27-28 APR 2023 Presented case study at the Europa Institute workshop 'New Perspectives on Europe in the World'

15-18 MAR 2023 Presented paper at the International Studies Association Annual Convention in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

16-17 JAN 2023 Jean Monnet Network-VISTA Conference Workshop, Maastricht University, Brussels Campus. Presented paper for JCMS Special Issue on ‘The Geo-Economic Turn of the European Single Market’

9 SEP 2022 ENGAGE Workshop, Sabançi University, Istanbul. Presented WP6 research for deliverable 2 and next steps

23-24 JUN 2022 Presented PhD research at the UACES Graduate Forum Research Conference

PUBLICATIONS AND WORKING PAPERS

Christou, Andrea and Chad Damro. 2024. ‘Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the Geoeconomic Turn’. Journal of Common Market Studies 62(4): 1080-96

Christou, Andrea, Chad Damro, Anna Fonts Picas, Mateu Tomi and Marie Vandendriessche (2023), ‘Coordinating External Action Beyond Crisis’, ENGAGE Policy Brief Series, Brief No. 3

Christou, Andrea, Chad Damro, Marie Vandendriessche, Anna Fonts Picas and Mateu Tomi. 2023. ‘Assessing the Current Structures and Processes of External Action Plus and Formulating Recommendations’, ENGAGE Working Paper No. 24

Vandendriessche, Marie, Andrea Christou, Chad Damro, Anna Fonts Picas and Mateu Tomi. 2023. ‘Case Studies of Traditionally Internal Policy Areas with Outward Effects: Competition, Climate Change and Health’, ENGAGE Working Paper No. 21

Christou, Andrea Chad Damro, Vladislava Gubalova, Meltem Muftuler-Bac, Nihat Mugurtay and Lucia Rybnikárová. 2022. ‘External Action Plus: Case Studies on Trade, Development and Humanitarian Action’, ENGAGE Working Paper No. 17

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

Blog Posts

Podcasts

  • Article ‘Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the Geoeconomic Turn’ (with Chad Damro) featured in The External, an EU-Renew Podcast, Episode 13
Andrea Christou's Research Explorer profile