PhD Candidate

louis.stockwell@warwick.ac.uk

For all teaching inquires please use my staff email:

Louis.G.Stockwell@warwick.ac.uk

Advice and Feedback Hours (via Teams or in D2.09):

Monday - 13:00 - 14:00

Friday - 11:30 - 12:30

Please email in advance to book a 15 minute slot.

Profile

I am a PhD Candidate & Associate Tutor in the Department of Politics and International Studies. I joined Warwick in 2021 after several years working in local government. I completed my BA(hons) in International Politics at the University of Huddersfield, and my MSc (cum laude) in Political Science at Leiden University.

Thesis

My doctoral research, 'The (un)Settling Nature of Referendums: direct democracy and politicisation effects in eleven countries' (provisional title), focusses on understanding the relationship between referendums, issue politicisation, polarisation, and political realignment in established democracies. I am supervised by Professor Ece Özlem AtikcanLink opens in a new window and Professor Michael SawardLink opens in a new window

Research interests

• Comparative politics
• Direct democracy and referendums
• Democratic innovations
• Politicisation and polarisation
• Political cleavages and realignment
• Mixed-methods research
• Time series analysis and causal inference

Awards and scholarships

• University of Warwick Contribution Awards Scheme, Higher Performance Award (2024)
• Monash-Warwick Alliance PhD travel grant for visiting research at Monash University, Melbourne (2024)
• Jean Monnet Network travel grant for visiting research at Carleton University, Ottawa (2024)
• Winner of the ECPR Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism Best Paper Prize 2023 for the paper: "The efficacy of unofficial referendums as regionalisation and independence protest events:
  issue salience, polarisation, and mobilisation"
• Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) PhD Scholarship (2021), University of Warwick

Conference papers and invited talks

• (Conference paper) Catalysing events? A new comparative perspective on referendums and the politicisation of the European Union, ECPR General Conference, University College Dublin, 14/08/2024
• (Conference paper) Old question new approach: referendums and the politicisation of the European Union. ECSA-C 14th Biennial Conference, Carleton University (Ottawa), 24/05/2024
• (Conference paper) Taking democracy into our own hands: assessing the indirect effects of unofficial regional sovereignty referendums in Spain and Italy. ECPR General Conference, Charles University (Prague), 05/09/2023
• (Conference presentation) The efficacy of unofficial referendums as regionalisation and independence protest events . PAIS Research Conference, University of Warwick (Coventry), 28/06/2023

• (Conference presentation) On the divergent effects of referendums as democratic innovations. PAIS Research Conference, University of Warwick (Coventry), 29/06/2022

Teaching

2024/25 academic year:

• PO132S Contemporary Themes in Comparative Politics

2023/24 academic year:

• PO238 Themes in European Integration (nominated for WATE, the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence)

• PO107 Introduction to Politics

2022/23 academic year:

• PO107 Introduction to Politics

Other activities

• Co-Chair of the 2022-2023 Critical International & Political Studies (CRIPS) graduate working group
• Research Assistant on The Politics of Policy Formulation in The European Commission with Dr Tamara Tubakovic