Other News

On 10 September, Trevor McCrisken was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford about how President Obama is handling the US response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. You can listen to Trevor's comments on BBC iPlayer until 16 September; the interview begins 21 minutes into the broadcast.

On 5 September Prof Shaun Breslin appeared on the Voice of Russia in a discussion of China's position regarding Syria entitled 'Why Would China Oppose the War on Syria?' Shaun joined Dr. Mathieu Duchatel, Senior Researcher and head of the SIPRI’s China and International Peace and Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and Vassily Kashin, China expert based with the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

You can listen to the discussion on the Voice of Russia's website.

On August 26-28, Prof Franklyn Lisk participated in the Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute (HESPI) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Conference on Rebuilding Viable State and Effective Institutions in Somalia. This three-day consultative meeting held in Addis Ababa brought together representatives across Somali leadership and civil society, as well as academics, professionals, and experts on post-conflict reconstruction. The main objectives were to contribute to the current assessment of the country's priority needs; provide support to the new government of the Federal Republic of Somalia in its endeavours to plan, formulate, and implement a coherent programme for the rebuilding of a viable and effective state; and to foster dialogue that promotes the exchange of ideas and new thinking among policy makers and the country's developed partners.

Prof Lisk presented on post-conflict reconstruction and the challenges of sustainable development in Africa. The conference report will be prepared by HESPI to communicate the key findings and messages from the conference papers and keynote speeches to assist the federal Government of Somalia in planning and formulating its near and medium term strategy for reconstruction and institution building.

Proceedings will become available on the HESPI website, where the conference programme is already available.

Miriam Grinberg, PhD candidate in PAIS, has been awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers (Short Term) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for 2013-14. This programme provides the opportunity for short-term visits for young pre- and post-doctoral UK researchers and researchers from Europe and North America based in the UK to conduct cooperative research with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and Institutions.

The award goes towards funding Miriam's fieldwork next year in Japan, where she will be conducting interviews and archival studies as part of her dissertation research entitled 'The US-Japan alliance and the relocation of Futenma: Sites of discursive exchange in the reproduction of security alliances'. As part of the award, she will be working with Prof Chikako Ueki from the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University in Tokyo.