News and Events

The event marked the launch of a new report published by the Academy of Social Sciences, in partnership with eight Midlands-based universities.

We are delighted to offer two PhD scholarships linked to these two important topics:

1. Intercultural research on diversity in professional contexts

2. Linguistic Bias in Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence

The Department of Education Studies is delighted to celebrate the achievements of two of our alumni who have been recognised in the King’s New Year Honours 2026 for their exceptional contributions to education and public service.

Professor Jacquelyn Bridget Dunne, who completed her MA in Education and Industry with the former Institute of Education, has been awarded an MBE for services to Higher Education. Now Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham Newman University, Professor Dunne has built a distinguished career championing access, opportunity, and innovation in the sector.

Ian Todd, a graduate of the PG Diploma in Educational Assessment, has been awarded an OBE for Parliamentary and Public Service. As Chief Secretary and Head of the Public Service for the St Helena Government, he has played a central role in public sector leadership and governance.

We are immensely proud to see that two of our education alumni have had their contributions recognised nationally. Their honours highlight the impact of education professionals whose careers have been shaped, in part, by their time at Warwick.

We warmly congratulate Professor Dunne and Ian Todd on their achievements.

More details are available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-news/news/new_years_honours_2026/

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Diversity in Data Visualization (Diverse CDT) is a pioneering, fully funded four-year PhD programme jointly delivered by City St George’s, University of London and the University of Warwick.

Applications for PhD studentships with Diverse CDT are now open for 2026 entry.

We have rolling deadlines across several months and the first deadline for submitting an application is 4pm, GMT on 30th January 2026.

Further details here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/cim/apply-to-study/phd-programmes/diverse-cdt/

We are delighted to share some positive results we have received from National Student Survey 2022.

Bisha K Ali (BSc Economics 2010), an acclaimed writer and producer for Netflix and Marvel Studios, and winner of a 2024 BAFTA Award for her work on Black Mirror – for which she also received a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2025 – was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the Department of Economics degree ceremony on 21 January 2026.

Professor Caroline Elliott delivered the oration, highlighting key moments in Bisha’s career, from her early work as a data scientist to her work as a successful screenwriter and producer of widely praised television series.

Bisha launched her scriptwriting career in 2012 and went on to write major shows like Sex Education, Loki, and Ms Marvel, shaping Kamala Khan’s character (first Muslim superhero) through her own experience growing up in England as the daughter of Pakistani-born parents.

In 2021, she collaborated with Netflix and Sky to found the Screenwriters’ Fellowship, which she describes as ‘an attempt to move towards a more inclusive industry’. She continues her involvement with the fellowship that supports six outstanding screenwriters from the UK’s Black, Asian and other racial and ethnic backgrounds, offering bursaries to provide time and space to work on original ideas, mentorship and a first TV credit.

Since 2023, she has been the executive producer of the sixth and seventh series of the Netflix smash hit, Black Mirror, co-writing award-winning episodes of both series.

In her honorary degree acceptance speech, Bisha Ali reflected on her 2010 graduation and the fear she felt about stepping into the real world following the global financial crisis. She said:

“It turns out fear is a constant. No matter when you graduate that fear is going to be there. The world is a scary place. But there are a few things that got me through, so I want to share them with you:

"The first one is resilience. It’s a muscle... The second is curiosity about people, about the material world, about our collective history of human beings. Every single thing that I’ve accomplished started with curiosity for others and about myself. What are the dreams that are beyond your wildest dreams? The questions how, why and why not always lead you to something precious... There’s gratitude; remaining grateful and aware of all that luck has given me. I’m grateful for my time at this university…”

Addressing the graduates she added:

"The world is scary, but you are formidable. Build community, be curious and be good to each other. Good luck!"

We congratulate Bisha on the Honorary Doctor of Letters degree and wish her further successes in the future.

Photo from left to right: Advocate Bience Gawanas, Chancellor of the University of Warwick; Bisha K Ali, Professor Caroline Elliott, Department of Economics at Warwick

Related content:

University of Warwick to award honorary degrees to leading figures in medicine, the arts and industry - including Bisha K. Ali's profile

Details of more successes for our students

Cedefop, the European Agency responsible for Vocational Education and Training, have released the latest update to their Skills Forecast data providing labour market projections at a pan-European level from 2022 to 2035. The project was led by Cambridge Econometrics with a consortium of European research organisations, including the IER, and individual country experts from across Europe.

Find out more about individual country reports, the technical report and Cedefop’s Skills Forecast online tool.

In a new essay in Foreign Policy, PAIS's Tom Long and Carsten-Andreas Schulz point to historical parallels, and overlooked lessons, of the recent US intervention in Venezuela. Trump's plans to 'run' Venezuela through pliant leaders and threats resemble US policies of the early twentieth century. The architects of the so-called 'Donroe Doctrine', Long and Schulz argue, will soon confront frustrations that echo those that Washington faced a century ago.

Warwick Philosophy is inviting expressions of interest (EOI) in the latest round of the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. The deadline for EOIs is Thursday, 18 December 2025 at 12 noon. 

Full details of EOI process and timelines are linked above.

The Department of Sociology are delighted to announce that Professor Claire Blencowe has been selected to receive a prestigious Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council. The grant, worth £1.8 million, will enable her to lead a 5-year, cross-continental, cross-faith investigation of the role of religious authority in extractive industry struggles.

The University of Warwick’s Centre for Teacher Education (CTE) has received a glowing report following a recent Ofsted inspection, highlighting the exceptional quality of training and support provided to its teaching trainees. The inspection report underscores the University’s commitment to nurturing future educators who are well-prepared and passionate about their careers.