Other News

The Department of Politics and International Studies is delighted to announce that Professor Shirin Rai has been appointed to the Politics and International Studies Sub-Panel for REF2021. Professor Rai served in this capacity for REF2014 and we are pleased that she has agreed to act in this all-important role once again. Congratulations and thank you, Shirin!

For further information including full lists of all panel members - please see the following link: http://www.ref.ac.uk/news/2018/panelmembersannounced.html

Dr. Charlotte Heath-Kelly's research project, Counterterrorism in the NHS, has recently received press coverage from The Guardian.

The report has revealed that four NHS mental health trusts are subjecting patients to blanket screening for radicalisation, with some referred to the Prevent programme for watching Arabic TV or going on pilgrimage to Mecca. The report, written by Dr. Heath-Kelly along with co-investigator Dr Erzsébet Strausz, is covered in the article, titled "Report finds some NHS mental health trusts screen all patients for radicalisation."

The full report, Counterterrorism in the NHS: Evaluating Prevent Duty Safeguarding by Midlands Healthcare Providers, can be read on the project's website.

Dr Adrian James, registrar of the Royal College of Psychiatrist, published a positive reaction to Charlotte's research in The Guardian, in an article titled "I’m a doctor, not a counter-terrorism operative. Let me do my job."

On 9 March 2017, Dr Georg Löfflmann presented the ‘Border Narratives’ project at the British Council in Mexico City. Border Narratives is a Leverhulme-funded research project led by Prof. Nick Vaughan-Williams aimed at investigating how diverse European publics perceive, understand, and experience 'the migration crisis' in the context of their everyday lives.

The keynote was a public lecture held in the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia and came at the end of a 3-day ‘Policy Incubator’ programme, developed by the British Council in Mexico in collaboration with the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The idea behind the ‘Policy Incubator’ is to empower young people and to develop and share counter and alternative narratives as means to participate in the process of positively influencing public policy in the field of migration.

The event was attended by over 200 people and proved a fantastic opportunity to showcase the ‘Border Narratives’ project, facilitate public engagement on migration and border security, and explore partnerships with emerging leaders and stakeholders at the intersection of government, private sector, community outreach, and academic research.

British Council Mexico Interview with Georg Löfflmann available here: https://www.facebook.com/BritishCouncilMexico/videos/10156203042889176/

Columba Achilleos-Sarll, a PhD Candidate and ESRC Fellow in PAIS, has written a blog post for the Centre for Women, Peace and Security on the LSE website. In the post, Columba warns that departmental ‘ownership’ of women, peace and security, and a discordant approach to foreign and domestic policy, risks reinforcing gendered and racialised boundaries.

The post, titled "The WPS Agenda requires a complementary approach to foreign and domestic policy," can be read here: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2018/03/05/the-wps-agenda-requires-a-complementary-approach-to-foreign-and-domestic-policy/

Four students - all currently taught in PAIS - formed the University's Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge Team on 26/27 February. This two-day cyber policy competition was organised by the Atlantic Council for students across the globe to compete in developing national security policy recommendations tackling a fictional cyber catastrophe.

The Student Challenge rounds took place in Washington DC, Geneva, Sydney, New York and London - the latter at the top of the BT tower. Sixteen universities entered teams in the London round which featured a variety of challenges and tests. The Warwick team leader was Sarah Mainwaring and the other team members were Sophie Davies, Sophie Cowling and Emily Bassett. Day One featured policy briefing and Day Two featured an extended "Cyber Crisis Sim".

Congratulations to the Warwick team who won the prize for best performance in the "Cyber Crisis Sim."