School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

I am on research leave from 1 August to 31 December 2023 based in Washington, D.C. Email responses may take longer than usual.

Research interests | CV 

I am currently co-investigator on a research project, funded by the Open Society Foundations, focused on what political and policy decision-makers think about: the current challenges to representative democracy; new mechanisms and processes of democratic participation and citizen engagement; and the barriers to democratic renewal. The results will be available in early 2024.

I am also currently researching the social and political representation of social policy issues in narrative and documentary film. I explore these issues in my honours-level course, "Screening Social Policy".

Biography    

I completed a PhD in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh in 2012, which read European integration through the lens of classical realism. Between 2012 and 2021, my work was focused mostly on British politics, in particular on constitutional change and foreign policy. During 2013-14, I served as the expert adviser to the Scottish Parliament's European and External Relations Committee. In 2017, with colleagues at Edinburgh, I authored the book Publics, Elites and Constitutional Change in the UK. I also continued to work on the EU, serving as lead editor on three editions of the textbook The European Union: How Does it Work?

I was first appointed as a lecturer in Politics & International Relations in 2012, moving to Social Policy in 2015. I have served as deputy director of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (2012-2013), deputy director of the University's Academy of Government (2013-16), special adviser to the senior vice-principal/provost (2016-2017), and director of teaching quality for the School of Social and Political Science (2017-2019). In 2019 I was a DAAD Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, where I worked on Brexit and EU security policy. In 2020 I was a visiting researcher at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Teaching and subject area responsibilities

In academic year 2023/24 I am on sabbatical from 1 August to 31 December. When I return:

• Screening Social Policy (undergraduate honours), course convener and lecturer.
• Evidence, Politics & Policy (undergraduate pre-honours), course convener and lecturer.

Topics interested in supervising

I welcome PhD inquiries in the broad area of British government, politics, and social policy. I am especially interested in research proposals that bridge the study of government, politics, and policy, on the one hand, and aesthetics or visual studies, on the other.

• PhD in Politics
• PhD in Social Policy
• MSc (R) Politics
• MSc (R) Social Policy