School of Social and Political Science

Background

Meryl is Senior Lecturer in Gender and Politics at the University of Edinburgh, Deputy Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Social and Political Science, and Co-Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change (2021-present). She joined the subject area of Politics and International Relations in August 2015, having held previous positions at the University of Leicester and the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). 

At Edinburgh, Meryl is also founding convenor and member of the Gender Politics Research Group, which hosts the genderpol blog  (@genderpol on Twitter). She sits on the steering group of the University's cross-disciplinary GENDER.ED network. She is also a member of the steering group of the cross-party Women5050 campaign for legal gender quotas in Scotland.

Meryl is Co-Director of the Feminism and Institutionalism International Network (FIIN), based at Edinburgh, and co-editor of the book series Studies in Feminist Institutionalism with Oxford University Press . She was Associate Editor of The British Journal of Politics & International Relations (2019-21) and Scottish Affairs (2015-19); currently sits on the editorial advisory board of Political Studies Review; and was previously an editorial board member for Politics & Gender. In 2021, she received the UK Political Studies Association's Richard Rose Prize, awarded to a younger scholar who has made a distinctive contribution to the study of British politics. 

Working with Honours students, Meryl designed and runs the course 'Understanding Gender in the Contemporary World' (Pre-Honours), which provides an introduction to gender for students from across the University.  In 2015/16, Meryl's course SPS in Practice was awarded 'Best Course' at the EUSA Teaching Awards, and was also the Runner-Up for the Innovative Assessment Prize at the ceremony. You can listen to Meryl and MA Politics graduate James Bryson talking about the SPS in Practice experience here and read her Teaching Matters blog about co-creating a course with students here. With Claire Duncanson and Fiona Mackay, she won the Political Studies Association Innovation in Teaching Politics (Group) Award in 2019, for the course The Global Politics of Sex and Gender. From 2021-2023, Meryl is Principal Investigator on a PTAS grant entitled 'Transforming Staff-Student Partnerships: co-creating curriculum through the course Understanding Gender in the Contemporary World.'

Topics interested in supervising

I am able to offer PhD supervision in most areas relating to gender politics (international, national and local), party politics, elections and political representation, and British and comparative politics. I would particularly welcome prospective students with interests in feminist and institutionalist approaches to the study of party politics, political recruitment, and/or post-devolution politics in the UK.