DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 2014 1 DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE HILARY 2014 Welcome back to Hilary Term, and a belated Happy New Year to everyone. As you will see in ‘What’s New’, the Department welcomes a new Head, Elizabeth Frazer, who is interviewed on pages 2-3. Stephen Whitefield, who has led the Department through a very successful period of recruitment, reorganisation and strengthening of our work, has come to the end of his term of office. ‘What’s Old’ is my return as acting Deputy Head of Department for the rest of this academic year. The Deputy Head last year, Paul Martin, has gone to be the University Assessor, from where he will advise, and sit in judgment, on matters of university examinations and student welfare. Both Paul and Stephen deserve our heartfelt thanks for all they have done for us. There’s a lot to read about in this term’s Student Newswire. One big story is the new Q-STEP quantitative methods programme. Oxford has been chosen as one of the UK universities to host a new programme to train undergraduate social scientists in quantitative methods. You’ll see this appear around us next year in the form of new members of staff, new lectures and classes, work placements, outreach and a new data laboratory. It is a very exciting and important development in our undergraduate teaching which has the potential to create a step-change in the skills of those who graduate from Oxford in the social sciences. As you’ll see in the pages that follow, there’s also a lot for you to do once you’ve finished reading Student Newswire. You can contribute to the ‘Politics in Spires’ blog, read one of the Department’s latest publications, or view a podcast of one of its special events. You can come along to one of the graduate discussion groups, or join one of the student political societies, or give us feedback on how we’re doing. And your Thursday evenings are taken care of by the DPIR Graduate Film Society. Oxford is never short of opportunities, but I do hope you’ll find time for as much of it as you possibly can. Best wishes, Nicholas Owen, Deputy Head of Department Welcome to the DPIR Student Newswire CONTENTS 1 Welcome 2 What’s New •Q&A with Elizabeth Frazer •Q-Step training •DPhil Discussion Group •Graduate Film Society •Latest from Politics In Spires •Recent events •Recent publications •Student achievements 9 Upcoming Events •Key events •Other highlights 14 People •Arrivals & Departures •Profiles 18 Student Life •Densua Mumford on first impressions of DPIR 19 List of Student Societies •Political •Cultural •Charities, Community & Ethics •Writing, Journalism & Media 25 And finally... •Political Cartoon Competition WELCOME Photo by Hannah Bond
Transcript
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 20141
DPIR STUDENT
NEWSWIRE
HILARY 2014
Welcome back to Hilary Term, and a belated Happy New Year to everyone.
As you will see in ‘What’s New’, the Department welcomes a new Head, Elizabeth Frazer, who is interviewed on pages 2-3. Stephen Whitefield, who has led the Department through a very successful period of recruitment, reorganisation and strengthening of our work, has come to the end of his term of office. ‘What’s Old’ is my return as acting Deputy Head of Department for the rest of this academic year. The Deputy
Head last year, Paul Martin, has gone to be the University Assessor, from where he will advise, and sit in judgment, on matters of university examinations and student welfare. Both Paul and Stephen deserve our heartfelt thanks for all they have done for us.
There’s a lot to read about in this term’s Student Newswire. One big story is the new Q-STEP quantitative methods programme. Oxford has been chosen as one of the UK universities to host a new programme to train undergraduate social scientists in quantitative methods. You’ll see this appear around us next year in the form of new members of staff, new lectures and classes, work placements, outreach and a new data laboratory. It is a very exciting and important development in our undergraduate teaching which has the potential to create a step-change in the skills of those who graduate from Oxford in the social sciences. As you’ll see in the pages that follow, there’s also a lot for you to do once you’ve finished reading Student Newswire. You can contribute to the ‘Politics in Spires’ blog, read one of the Department’s latest publications, or view a podcast of one of its special events. You can come along to one of the graduate discussion groups, or join one of the student political societies, or give us feedback on how we’re doing. And your Thursday evenings are taken care of by the DPIR Graduate Film Society. Oxford is never short of opportunities, but I do hope you’ll find time for as much of it as you possibly can.
Best wishes,Nicholas Owen, Deputy Head of Department
Welcome to the DPIR Student NewswireCONTENTS
1 Welcome
2 What’s New•Q&A with Elizabeth Frazer•Q-Step training•DPhil Discussion Group•Graduate Film Society•Latest from Politics In Spires•Recent events•Recent publications•Student achievements
9 Upcoming Events•Key events•Other highlights
14 People•Arrivals & Departures•Profiles
18 Student Life•Densua Mumford on first
impressions of DPIR
19 List of Student Societies•Political•Cultural•Charities, Community & Ethics•Writing, Journalism & Media
25 And finally...•Political Cartoon Competition
WELCOME
Photo by Hannah Bond
What’s New
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 20142
WHAT’S NEW
Q&A with the new Head of Department
Anna: How do you see the balance between quantitative and qualitative political science evolving in Oxford?
Elizabeth: First of all, I’d rather speak of political study than political science, just because of the particular connotations that the term ‘political science’ has acquired in the Anglophone world; our department is committed to scholarship and multidisciplinary and, indeed, interdisciplinary study, theory including scientific and critical theory, and philosophical analysis, across the wide ranging field of ‘politics and international relations’. The department’s teaching and supervision staff has always been aware of the paradox that it can take some students simply hours and hours to acquire the basic statistical analytic skills that masters and research students, and now undergraduates, need for this field of study. So, ‘quantitative’ work can seem to have a prominence, or even a dominance, that intellectually it doesn’t actually hold in a department like ours. And I’m sorry to say that some of the other methods of data gathering, handling, processing, and analysis that we need for research in this field are sometimes dismissed as little more than common sense or even ‘unteachable’. So they can seem to have a more recessive position than they actually have.
I don’t really like the ‘quantitative’ / ‘qualitative’ distinction, which in my view is conceptually as well as methodologically invalid. But I have to concede that the distinction is here to stay. However, I’d like to see our research methods training programme at all levels emphasising validity, reliability, and rigour across all techniques. I’d like to see department members really committed to innovative IT and Web based methods, and bringing the best of our traditions of archive research, interviewing, and participant observation together with new ways of handling and analysing data. In my view, our graduate students are both our best resource for experimenting methodologically, and are also brilliant educators of each other. Research methods training, at lots of its stages, can’t be better done than through peer-to-peer networks.
On my first day, after briefly becoming stuck behind the glass walls of DPIR and spending a few minutes wandering back and forth like a confused goldfish, it struck me that Oxford, in contrast to many US universities, has a fairly strong divide between international relations and politics. Would you agree, and, if so, why do you think this is?
I personally wouldn’t agree: the Department of Politics and International Relations - the space on the first floor of the Manor Road building, I mean - contains a mix of academics, mainly who have
Department Offices like Course Director, or Director of Research, our admin staff who
serve the whole department, and a lot of graduate students whose work looks SO interesting I am often tempted to linger and open up some of the books on their desks!
In a number of universities in the UK, politics and international relations have different departments, for instance, London School of Economics. All disciplines and inter-disciplinary enterprises always have to cope with identity and boundary problems. I know that for some the link between international relations and politics is not ideal because of the connotations of politics and a particular tradition of conceptualising and theorising about states. For some, IR would be better off linked to a discipline, like history; although for others IR is an eminently inter-disciplinary field. In Oxford, as it happens, we are home to a tradition of IR theory that has a very specific identity and has, in recent years, come to be rather clearly defined in opposition to certain intellectual and research traditions associated with some US departments, where a ‘political science’ paradigm dominates.
Now, it seems to me that there are links and networks across the Department’s various intellectual groups, with rather few people, actually, being members of only one. There are links between political philosophy and IR; between researchers who work in history and in political theory; between those who use statistical methods and those who use ethnographic
Dr Elizabeth Frazer talks about her new appointment as Head of Department to MPhil student Anna Petherick, and also answers questions on the direction she sees the Department moving in.
Dr Elizabeth Frazer, Head of Department
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 20143
methods to examine questions in comparative government, and in development, and in public policy.
Do you think the department should do more to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration at the graduate student level? There’s a real tension here. Inter-disciplinary presupposes disciplinary. Masters level work is aiming at - mastery, of a relatively limited field of study and appropriate methods. By the time students move on to doctoral work, they are pursuing a necessarily limited project. There is a problem with collaboration at this level: we should probably be thinking, as we develop the curriculum and modes of assessment of our graduate courses, how we can move forward with team work in general. As it is, we offer a wide range of seminars, workshops, conferences, special lectures and the like which mean that anyone who takes advantage of what the department has to offer will, necessarily, get a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary education. We expect our research students to continue to train in a range of methods, to consider methodological problems deeply, and to educate themselves in the relevant disciplines: and that has to be plural. Not many employers, whether academic or other, really need people who are, as it were, one-note operas, or one-act performances.
How is technology changing teaching in the department, and how do you see that developing over time?
It really really is. Validity and reliability of interpretations of data and sources, for instance, are potentially easier to check with new protocols for data handling and analysis using packages like QSR; you can expect examiners to re-run your analyses, or ask to see your data or for detailed accounts of how you handled your sources. We are going to be using video much more, for instance, in our new stats training programme for
undergraduates. Distance should now be no barrier in assessment and examining, although the university rules lag behind technology and lifestyles. I think we have been pretty laggardly in using social media to organise course groups and for communications through the department; we have a systematic review of communications coming up later this term and I very much hope that we can make a step change there - with students’ help and advice.
What other changes do you have in mind for the department?
Really, to keep asking everyone about what changes are needed and, just as importantly, how they can be achieved. Of course, as Head of Department my first priority is administration - the implementation of Department policy, and responsible day to day stewardship of the money, the people, the systems, the information etc. Other critical issues - relationships with our alumni, development of our graduate funding capability, the continued development of our curriculum and professional and research training for our students - are projects already existing: previous Department Heads made a lot of running there. Personally and intellectually, I am very committed to and very interested in both professional development and research methods training for graduates - and, yes, research methods in the widest sense - and I am looking forward to working with the other members of the methods panel over the next few years to push on with development of that side of our work.
[The Department has] “... a lot of graduate students whose
work looks SO interesting I am often tempted to linger and open up some of the books on
their desks!”
WHAT’S NEW
Photo by Susan Taylor
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 20144
Q-Step: new quantitative methods training for students in the social sciencesQ-Step is a £19.5 million programme designed to promote a national step-change in quantitative social science training. Over a five-year period from 2013, fifteen universities from across the UK are delivering specialist undergraduate programmes, including new courses, work placements and pathways to postgraduate study, and the Department of Politics and International Relations, in close co-operation with the Department of Sociology, is among those selected to host this Q-Step programme. DPIR’s Professor Catherine de Vries will serve as the Centre Coordinator.
The programme includes the creation of four new full-time teaching posts in DPIR and the Department of Sociology, from July 2014. New options in quantitative training will also be made available to undergraduates taking the PPE or the History and Politics courses, and hands-on data labs will become a core element of the new teaching programme, allowing undergraduates the opportunity to work with datasets within the context of their disciplines. Expertise and resources will be shared across the higher education sector through an accompanying support programme which will also forge links with schools and employers.
Oxford already has a Research Methods Hub, part of the Social Science Division’s doctoral training provision, which brings together a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods courses available to research students across the social sciences. However, this major funding
will allow more Oxford University undergraduates in the social sciences to receive the advanced quantitative skills they need to systematically analyse data.
Q-Step is funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and was developed as a strategic response to a shortage of quantitatively-skilled social science graduates. As former DPIR Head of Department Professor Stephen Whitefield put it:
‘Political scientists often use large data sets and sophisticated statistical models so it is very difficult, if not impossible, these days for undergraduates to understand and critically engage with what they are reading in many areas of the discipline without having a solid quantitative training. The funding will not only enhance the skills of students of Oxford but also bring wider benefits through summer schools for students from other UK universities and our online teaching materials.’
Professor Catherine de Vries
WHAT’S NEW
Yuna Han writes on this year’s DPhil Discussion Group (DDG)
Photo by Susan Taylor
My name is Yuna Han, and I am a second year DPhil at Lady Margaret Hall. Along with James Hollway, I am organising this year’s DPhil Discussion Group (DDG). The DDG is a weekly workshop organised by (and for!) DPhil students in IR to discuss their works in progress—ranging from thesis chapters and conference papers to those side-projects we’ve all been toying around with in the back of our heads. Past presenters have used it as an opportunity to hash out ideas, practice for transfer interviews or conference presentations, or ask for help regarding a particularly tricky part of that thesis chapter. Ultimately, the DDG is meant to be an informal and friendly setting for students to get feedback from their peers—and it is a great opportunity to get to know other people in the department, and what they have been up to!
This term we have been meeting after the IR Colloquium on Thursdays, from 2:30pm-4:00pm in Seminar Room A. But the time and place are subject to change in the following terms, so please watch out for the weekly emails. (For those of you who are not getting the emails from me, please let me know.)
We are always looking for people to present and serve as discussants. If you would like to present, or discuss someone else’s work—or if you simply have comments or questions to make the workshop even better!—please send us a message at either [email protected] or [email protected].
Myro Halushka writes on the DPIR Graduate Film Society‘Of all the arts, the most important for us is Cinema’, Lenin posited in 1919 to his first Soviet People’s Commissar of Education, Anatoly Lunacharsky. Indeed, ever since its invention, cinema, a visual and accessible medium, has been very difficult to categorise definitively as either ‘art’ or ‘entertainment’. At best, it is both. Cinematic masterpieces have stood the test of time, as they have not only captivated their contemporary audiences, but have since become valuable historical sources, snapshots of a director’s radical viewpoint, a social or political period in history, a visual response to particular events, or shifts in their perception. There is much to be learnt from cinema.
The DPIR Graduate Film Society was born out of a need to create a space in which its busy and discerning members could gather regularly and enjoy the best of world cinema over a glass (or two) of wine. Although the Department’s calendar of events could rival the arrivals screen of any international airport, many students have expressed the view that the life of the Department could do with more of a social dimension. The DPIR Film Society’s events are a wonderful opportunity to hear prominent academics speak about excellent films, which provide a cultural insight into global political issues, as well as the chance to meet your fellow students and faculty members in an informal, yet intellectually stimulating setting.
The Film Society’s launch event took place in Week 7 of Michaelmas term with a screening of Gillo Pontecorvo’s controversial ‘The Battle of Algiers’ (1966), which was introduced by Dr Karma Nabulsi (St Edmund Hall). Themes of war, occupation, and resistance, which run through Pontecorvo’s ouevre, have featured prominently in her own work on the Palestinians’ ongoing quest for sovereign statehood. Dr Nabulsi drew upon her favourite philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in discussing the moral dimension of the film, which has been harshly criticised for being appropriated by terrorist organisations as a visual textbook for urban warfare. Professor Richard Falk (Princeton University) and his wife were in attendance: ‘We saw the film when it was originally released... it is fascinating to see subsequent generations of students engaging with it, as it certainly leaves room for discussion...’
Please join our Facebook Group to stay abreast of all future developments: https://www.
facebook.com/groups/dpir.filmsoc
If you have any queries about the Society, would like to get involved, or have suggestions
The DPIR Film Society’s screenings take place Thursdays, even weeks, from 7pm, in the Lecture Theatre, Manor Road Building. A cheese and wine reception precedes the screening, and a Faculty member presents a film of their choosing, which corresponds in some way with their wider academic work. An informal discussion follows the screening, and the cinephile stalwarts are welcome to
Last year Kate Candy and Liz Greenhalgh ran a small HEIF funded (Higher Education Innovation Fund) project to engage sixth form students in DPIR research.
The aim was to combine ‘outreach’ with the publication of a themed article series on the Department’s Politics in Spires blog.
A group of six DPIR graduate students made visits to a small number of sixth forms to present an overview of the Department’s research and to hold discussions with pupils taking Government and Politics at A Level. These sessions explored the sixth formers’ interests and understanding of DPIR politics and IR research.
The discussions went well; the research programme resonated not just with the A level syllabus but also with the interests and wider political concerns
of the sixth formers who took part. The DPIR students came back with ideas and questions some of which have been followed up by Department members in an especially commissioned article series. These are now being published and promoted to wider audiences of sixth formers.
The articles and a video piece can be seen now on the Politics in Spires blog. A feature of this project has been to use the blog and the idea of ‘themed article series’ to amplify the contact with schools and to extend the project via the blog to a wider audience of sixth formers. We’ve had excellent feedback from teachers at the schools visited and we hope to run the project again in the Autumn this year. If you have ideas on how we might extend or further develop these sorts of projects both for the blog and for engagement with DPIR research please do get in touch with Kate or Liz.
How you can get involved:
•Become a contributor – we welcome posts of 300 -1,000 words
•Politics in Spires will soon be starting a special series on Migration. If you would like to contribute this do please email [email protected].
•Let us know if you have a recent publication or journal article: we can arrange a Q&A (email) interview to publicise your work.
•Let us know if you have any ideas for themed series or collaborations.
For further information please contact Kate Candy or Blake Ewing (Graduate Editor) at [email protected]
‘The Engagement of Theory’ - DPIR Alumni Event (30 November 2013)
‘The Political Origins of Global Justice’ - Cyril Foster Lecture(28 November 2013)
The International Relations Cyril Foster Lecture entitled, ‘The Political Origins of Global Justice’, was delivered by Professor Samuel Moyn (James Bryce Professor of European Legal History, Columbia University) on 28th November 2013.
Against the background of the broader history of the idea of human rights, this lecture investigated when and why the contemporary field of ‘global justice’ in philosophy and political theory was invented. Returning to the engagement of American liberals with the decolonization process in the 1970s, in the aftermath of the Vietnam war and even as more powerful tendencies were about to bring the welfarist ideal of the postwar era low, this lecture presented contemporary cosmopolitanism as a response to a forgotten revolt of the global south against the prevailing economic order of our age.
Introductions were given by the Chair of the Cyril Foster Committee, Louise Fawcett, and the Vice-Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton.
An audio podcast is available at: http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/political-origins-global-justice-cyril-foster-lecture-2013
We were delighted to be joined by so many DPIR alumni at the ‘Engagement of Theory’ conference and dinner on 30 November, convened by Professor Jeremy Waldron. Following presentations from DPIR political theorists, the audience engaged in lively discussions on some of the challenges that face Britain today – immigration; making reparations to former British colonies; constitutional reform and possible secession by Scotland; and the right of prisoners to vote. We then relocated to Christ Church where Professor Iain McLean gave a short lecture on Lewis Carroll and his pioneering work on the mathematics behind electoral systems. At Christ Church we were also treated to a private tour of the Upper Library.
Those who stayed for the dinner at Balliol College were regaled with an after dinner speech by Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Please listen to the podcast and view speakers’ slides here.
Observations and analysis of the talks by DPIR graduate students are available on the Politics in Spires blog.
“Saturday was a splendid day and quite as good as my highest hopes. Thanks to everybody for making it happen. It stimulated my thinking on a wide range of topics.” Andreas Whittam Smith CBEKeble College, 1957
From left to right: Louise Fawcett, Andrew Hamilton and Samuel Moyn.
We hope that this event, which followed the ‘More Europe, Less Europe, No Europe’ inaugural event in March this year, will lead to many more opportunities for us to welcome alumni into the Department. Suggestions for topics for future events are most welcome: please email [email protected].
Dr Marek Naczyk, a recent DPhil Politics alumnus, who has received a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Department of Social Policy at the University of Oxford, where his current research projects focus on the role of the financial industry in the privatization of pensions and on the links between pension privatization and corporate governance reform. You can read more about Marek on his profile page.
Mara Tchalakov, a DPhil student in International Relations, who is the winner of the Sara Norton Prize for 2013. Her essay was titled Jimmy Carter and the Limits of Empathy: The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan as a Case Study of Cognitive Bias in US Presidential Decision Making. This prize, of the value of about £600, is offered for an essay of not more than 30,000 words (though an essay of shorter length will be acceptable) relating to the field of political history and institutions of the United States of America.
Congratulations to the following students:
Recent publications by Department academics
‘Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement’By Alexander Betts (Cornell University Press 2013)
International treaties, conventions, and organizations to protect refugees were established in the aftermath of World War II to protect people escaping targeted persecution by their own governments.
However, the nature of cross-border displacement has transformed dramatically since then. Such threats as environmental change, food insecurity, and generalized violence force massive numbers of people to flee states that are unable or unwilling to ensure their basic rights, as do conditions in failed and fragile states that make possible human rights deprivations. Because these reasons do not meet the legal understanding of persecution, the victims of these circumstances are not usually recognized as ‘refugees’, preventing current institutions from ensuring their protection.
In his book, Alexander Betts develops the concept of ‘survival migration’ to highlight the crisis in which these people find themselves.
Dr Alexander Betts
‘Legally Married: Love and Law in the UK and the US’By Scot Peterson and Iain McLean (Edinburgh University Press, Oxford University Press USA 2013)
What does it really mean to be legally married? The answer seems to vary depending on the cultures, religions and laws of different countries. From English teenagers eloping to Gretna Green to tie the knot without their parents’ permission, to whether a wife can own property, it’s clear that marriage law is different depending on where you live and when.
Now, the main debate centres on whether the law should be changed so that same-sex couples can marry. The Scottish and UK governments, plus a number of US states, are legislating to allow same-sex marriage, prompting both celebration and outrage. But amongst all the assumptions, there are few facts, and the debates about same-sex marriage in the UK and the US are taking place in an informational vacuum filled with emotion and rhetoric.
‘Legally Married’ combines insights from history and law from the UK and Scotland with international examples of how marriage law has developed. Scot Peterson and Iain McLean show how many assumptions about marriage are contestable on a number of grounds, separate fact from fiction and explain the claims made on both sides of the argument over same-sex marriage in terms of their historical context.
When: Week 0 (Trinity Term) - Tuesday 22 April 2014Where: Manor Road Building
Mark Philp was our founding Head of Department (2000-2005) and tutorial fellow at Oriel College (1983-2013). His work in the fields of political thought and political theory are notable for their interdisciplinarity as well as the excellence of their scholarship and depth of philosophical analysis. This tribute event will focus on three strands of Mark’s recent research:
Session 1 – The 1790s and afterPresenter: Oskar Cox Jensen, Kings College London; Discussant: Jon Mee, University of York
Session 2 – Political conduct and political corruptionPresenters: Elizabeth David Barrett, Said Business School, Oxford; Ed Hall, London School of Economics; Discussant: David Hine, Christ Church, Oxford
Session 3 – Comparative paths in democratisationPresenters: Tom Cutterham, New College,Oxford; Graciela Iglesias Rogers, St Peter’s College, Oxford;Discussant: Joanna Innes, Somerville College, Oxford.
Some students will remember Mark, some will wish to learn more about his work. All graduate and undergraduate students are very welcome; we hope you will register for the event and join in the discussion.
You can find out more about this event by clicking here:http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/details/34079-a-celebration-and-critical-evaluation-of-the-work-of-mark-philp.html
You can find out more about Mark Philp by clicking here:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/philp
‘A celebration and critical evaluation of the work of Mark Philp’
Poster Design Workshop: Wednesday 12 March 2-5 pm
The Department will be holding a poster design workshop on Wednesday 12 March 2-5 pm for DPIR Graduate Students. Please note that this is a re-scheduling of the workshop which was due to be held on 14 January but has now been moved to March to allow more students to get involved.
Details:The workshop will be open to DPIR Graduate Students, to be delivered by David Baker from IT Services.
The workshop will offer an excellent opportunity for researchers to consider how to present their research in poster form and to create material that can then be used in presentations, on websites and in publications.
To register for this workshop please email James Baldwin, [email protected], stating name and degree. Registration will close on Wednesday 5 March.
If you have questions about the workshop please contact Liz Greenhalgh, [email protected].
Oxford Spring School InQuantitative Methods for Social Research
TAUGHT BY MARCO STEENBERGEN (University of Zurich)With
PLENARY SESSION BY TOM SNIJDERS (University of Oxford)And
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS SESSION BY SERGI PARDOS-PRADO (University of Oxford)
22 to 25 April 2014
“This course presents an overview of the logic of multilevel analysis and applications that are most relevant to social science research. It will provide an overview of the statistical complications arising from multilevel data structures, the hierarchical linear model and its interpretation as well as discuss some of the caveats of multilevel analysis. Both multilevel analysis using continuous and limited dependent variables will be discussed. The course will consist of lectures that deal with model logic and interpretation as well as lab sessions
that deal with estimation techniques and data handling.”
All teaching sessions will take place in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, Oxford
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPENFor more information please visit: http://springschool.politics.ox.ac.uk/
Academic BloggingPolitical Analysis in the Digital Age
Tuesday 25 February 2014 (1pm to 5pm)at Lecture Theatre, Manor Road Building, Oxford
To register, please go tohttp://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/event-registration.html
A half-day workshop exploring current practice and new opportunities for academic publishing online with leading politics and international relations bloggers.
Photo by Anonymous Collective / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
With representatives from: Guardian Politics blog, openDemocracy, Crooked Timber, LSE blogs, OUP blog, Ballots and Bullets, Politics in Spires, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Internet Institute.
UPCOMING EVENTS
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201411
UPCOMING EVENTS
International Relations Research Colloquium
The Colloquium is open to all graduate students in Politics and International Relations. Papers will mostly relate to academic International Relations but the Colloquium seeks to draw in those working on the borders of Politics and International Relations and to encourage a pluralist approach in terms of methods and forms of analysis, including from within closely related disciplines and subject areas.
PAST EVENTS IN THIS SERIES
23 January - Janina Dill (DPIR/Somerville):Another Attempt at a Constructivist Theory of International LawDiscussant: Christian Fastenrath (Nuffield College)
30 January - Paulo Visentini (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul):Brazil in Africa: Prestige, Solidarity or Business?Discussant: Seamus Duggan (St Antony’s College)
6 February - Jeni Whalan (University of New South Wales):Partial Peace: The Politics of Taking Sides in UN PeacekeepingDiscussant: Claire Palmer (Wadham College)
13 February - John Ikenberry (Princeton University):Between the Eagle and the Dragon: America, China and Middle States in AsiaDiscussant: Mara Tchalakov (St Antony’s College)
UPCOMING EVENTS
20 February - Nicole De Silva (Oriel College):International Courts as Agents: The Dynamics of State Control and Court Autonomy Discussant: Leticia Villeneuve (University College)
27 February - Kai Hebel (DPIR/Exeter College):Theorizing Cooperative Security: “Helsinki” as a Model of Conflict Management and Transformation Discussant: Alessandra Russo (Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna)
6 March - Emily Paddon (Lady Margaret Hall):Norm Enmeshment: Moral Decision-Making and Political Possibility Discussant: Iason Gabriel (St John’s College)
13 March - Matthew Gibney (DPIR/Refugee Studies Centre):On the Taboo against States Deporting Their Own Citizens Discussant: Chris Croke (St John’s College)
The colloquium takes place on Thursdays from 12.30-2.15pm in the Manor Road Building, Seminar Room A.A sandwich lunch is provided but only for those who have previously booked it with Maria Moreno ([email protected]). For further information or to discuss the possibility of presenting or discussing a paper, please contact one of the two conveners:[email protected] or [email protected]
To see all the upcoming events in this series, click here:http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/series/12-ir-research-colloquium.html
The Colloquium is open to all graduate students in Politics and International Relations. Papers will mostly relate to Government, but the Colloquium seeks to draw in those working on the borders of Politics, especially with Sociology and Area Studies and to encourage a pluralist approach in terms of methods and forms of analysis.
PAST EVENTS IN THIS SERIES
27 January - Jane Gingrich (DPIR/Magdalen College)Privatization of the Welfare State: Does it matter for Public Preferences? Discussant: David Rueda (DPIR & Nuffield College)
10 February - Ksenia Northmore-Ball (DPIR/Nuffield College)Unequal turnout in post-Communist Eastern Europe: parties, institutions, income inequality, and the normalization of voting Discussant: Sergi Pardos Prado (Merton College)
UPCOMING EVENTS
24 February - Felix Krawatzek (DPIR/Nuffield College):Discourse Networks and Mobilisation. Assessing the Political Involvement of Youth in the Russian Federation Discussant: Elizabeth Frazer (Head of Department, DPIR)
10 March - Patrycja Stys (DPIR/Nuffield College):Once Upon a Time in Greater Rwanda: Migration Flows, Citizenship Laws, and Ideological Manufacturing of the Republic of Volcanoes Discussant: Gwendolyn Sasse (DPIR & Nuffield College)
The colloquium takes place on Mondays in weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8 from 12.30-2pm in the Manor Road Building, Seminar Room A (incl. lunch). For further information or to discuss the possibility of presenting or discussing a paper next term, please contact one of the two conveners:[email protected] or [email protected]
To see all the upcoming events in this series, click here:http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/series/142-politics-research-colloquium.html
UPCOMING EVENTS
Photo by Susan Taylor
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201413
UPCOMING EVENTS
Other event highlights
Centre for International Studies
‘Winning friends abroad: can Britain’s cultural power maintain our influence in the modern world’What: Sir Martin Davidson KCMG, CEO of the British Council, examines the UK’s soft power capacity: our ability to make our national presence felt through our powers of cultural attraction rather than our economic muscle and military might. In a rapidly changing international environment, achieving our foreign policy goals will require all of the UK’s creativity, wit and innovation. Do we have what it takes?When: Week 6 - Thursday, 27 February 2014 – 5pmWhere: Seminar Room G, Manor Road Building
Special Lecture: ‘The Future of Aid: International Development in hard times: Reflecting on the major multilateral replenishments of 2013’What: Richard Manning, Vice Chair of the Global Fund Replenishment and one of the world’s leading experts on aid financing reflects on the future of aid, and how to finance international development in hard economic times. In the wake of economic recessions in many OECD countries, many donors are now cutting aid budgets. How will this affect donor contributions to the multilateral development system?When: Week 6 - Friday, 28 February 2014 – 2pmWhere: Lecture Theatre, Blavatnik School of Government, 10 Merton Street, Oxford, OX1 4JJ
RISJ
‘Could PR be the saviour of Journalism?’Who: Anne Gregory (Leeds Metropolitan University)When: Week 5 - Wednesday, 19 February 2014 –2pmWhere: Barclay Room, Green Templeton College, Oxford
‘Data journalism and academia: friend or foe?’Who: Mona Chalabi (Data Journalist, the Guardian)When: Week 6 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014 –2pmWhere: Lecture Theatre, Green Templeton College, Oxford
‘Attachment, detachment and fear: reporting revolution in the Arab World’Who: Lindsey Hilsum (International Editor, Channel 4 News)When: Week 7 - Wednesday, 5 March 2014 –2pmWhere: Barclay Room, Green Templeton College, Oxford
‘Post-humanitarianism: Humanitarian communication beyond a politics of pity’Who: Lilie Chouliaraki (London School of Economics)When: Week 8 - Wednesday, 12 March 2014 –2pmWhere: Barclay Room, Green Templeton College, Oxford
You can find a full list of Departmental (and Non-Departmental) events that you might
•Janina Dill, Department Lecturer in IR in association with Somerville (1 January 2014) transferring within the Department from the Hedley Bull Research Fellowship•Elias Dinas, University Lecturer in Comparative Politics
in association with Brasenose (1 January 2014)
Administrative Staff:
• Armando Roman Zozaya, MPhil/MSc Co-ordinator (7 January 2014)
We wish the following leavers well: Academic Staff:
•Marwa Daoudy (31 December 2013)
Administrative Staff:
•Charles Harper, Project Administrator Media and Democracy (30 November 2013)
Research Staff:
•Ainius Lasas, Senior Research Fellow Media and Democracy (31 December 2013)•Susana Salgado, RISJ Research Fellow (20 December
2013)
The Department would like to welcome the following new staff:
The Department would like to welcome the following new visitors:
•Professor Cecilia Albin, Uppsala University (VRF)•Dr Luca Tomini, Free University of Brussels (VRF)•Dr Ke Xu, Xiamen University (VRF)
Research centre and programme visitors are listed under each centre/programme.
Profile: Jane GingrichI started my new position as a University Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow in Comparative Political Economy at Magdalen College in July of 2013. Oxford is completely new to me. I originally come from Saskatchewan, Canada and did my PhD at the University of California Berkeley. I spent the last six years as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota and was Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in 2008/9.
My broad research interests involve changes to mature welfare states.
My first book Making Markets in the Welfare State (Cambridge University Press, 2011) asks why policy makers introduce marketising reforms in public social services like health and education. In particular, why would left wing governments often turn to introducing reforms expanding competition among schools or hospitals, or private actors, into public services? Building on interview and archival research in the UK, Sweden and Netherlands, I make two arguments in the book. First, I argue that the distributional and political implications of markets are highly
variable: there is no such thing as a simple ‘market reform’. Instead, to understand these shifts, we need to
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201415
PEOPLE
“Given that advanced welfare states are in a state
of near constant reform [...], I anticipate this area of
research will keep me busy in the near future!”
look at how different kinds of markets sometimes can empower the state itself, while at other times empowering the users of services and in yet other times, non-state producers. Second, I argue that political actors use these differences strategically to achieve quite varying goals. I show that parties on the Left and the Right of the political spectrum have systematically different aims with respect to public services, and thus build different types of markets to achieve these aims.
My current research builds on this past work, but from a different angle, asking how marketising reforms have affected both public attitudes and the democratic process itself. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, citizens and governments across Europe and the United States have been forced to confront the question of what they think governments should and
should not do. However, in contrast to previous periods of crisis, today’s citizens live under both extensive, but also extensively reformed, welfare states. Today’s citizens are more likely to bear greater risk for their retirement security, have lower replacement rates for unemployment benefits, and experience competitive public service delivery, but equally, they are also more likely to receive help for the costs of childrearing and other life-cycle risks. How does this context matter for how citizens understand themselves in relation to government? How much they trust it? What price they are willing to pay to sustain it?
In order to answer these questions, I am examining a number of existing cross-national surveys, and conducting an in-depth analysis of local welfare contexts in the UK and political attitudes over time. In both cases, I am
investigating how changes in benefit levels (cutbacks/expansion) and the type of service provision independently affect public attitudes towards redistribution or public spending. Given that advanced welfare states are in a state of near constant reform, and marketising shifts remain at the front-and-center of the political agenda in many countries, I anticipate this area of research will keep me busy in the near future!
Jane Gingrich is University Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow in Comparative Political Economy at Magdalen College
Profile: Elias Dinas I earned my PhD from the European University Institute in September 2010. On that same month I started working at Nuffield College as Post-doctoral Prize Research Fellow. In September 2012, I was employed as lecturer in the University of Nottingham: a position that I held until the end of 2013. During my stay in Nottingham, I taught various courses on research methods, statistics and comparative politics. As of the beginning of 2014 I am working as University Lecturer in Comparative Politics in the Department, and as tutorial fellow in Brasenose College.
Most of my research revolves around issues of political socialization and political learning. More specifically, I try to answer the question of how and why people end up sticking with one political party throughout their life. I found that three factors play an important role in this process: family socialization, the act of voting and political events. This work has been published or is forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of
Political Science, Political Behavior (with Joergen Boelstad and Pedro Riera), and the Political Research Quarterly. I have also worked on theories of issue voting, using spatial models in comparative settings. Part of this research has been published in the European Journal of Political Research (with Sergi Pardos-Prado) and in Electoral Studies (with Joost van Spanje).
I am currently working on three different projects, and would be more than happy to discuss them with and receive feedback from anyone reading this who might also share an interest. The first project relates to the roots of attitudinal change. Under what conditions will people change their opinions about political issues or political actors? Using insights from cognitive psychology, I have collaborated in a series of working papers, where we qualify the standard Bayesian logic of rational updating, suggesting an alternative process of coarse thinking. Voters, we argue, are coarse thinkers, grouping information into encompassing categories and transfering it across contexts within the same category. A signal that might be informative in one context is also used to update beliefs on another context where it does not apply.
The second stream of research concerns the electoral implications of parliamentary representation. Do parties enjoy more electoral success
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PEOPLE
“We develop and test the following hypothesis: when the authoritarian rule is associated
with the right (or left), the new democratic regime will be characterised by an anti-right
(or anti-left) bias.”
once they enter parliament? Taking advantage of the discontinuities generated by thresholds of representation, my co-authors (Florian Foos, Pedro Riera, Nasos Roussias) and I try to unpack the effect of entering
parliament on the likelihood of survival and the future vote shares of small parties. This project has developed into a series of papers, assessing the importance of parliamentary representation in explaining party system consolidation, regional party success and party survival.
The third project examines how the ideological profile of dictatorships shapes the left-right perceptions of citizens after the transition to democracy. Working with Ksenia
Northmore-Ball, we develop and test the following hypothesis: when the authoritarian rule is associated with the right (or left), the new democratic regime will be characterised by an anti-right (or anti-left) bias. We test this hypothesis using data from Latin-American, West-European and post-communist countries.
Elias Dinas is Univeristy Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Brasenose College.
Profile: Sukriti Issar I moved to Oxford and DPIR in September 2013, after completing a PhD in Sociology from Brown University, and an MSc from Cornell University. I am a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Political Economy. I work with Dr. Petra Schleiter, studying the impact of constitutional rules on cabinet terminations. My interest in this project comes from my broader focus on how the state works, how rules and regulations impact social and political life, and how processes unfold over time. I approach these questions through a range of methods, including event history, qualitative field methods, archival and historical research, and spatial statistics.
My previous research analyzed more than a century of urban policy in Mumbai, India using the tools of historical institutionalism. I spent a year doing fieldwork, poring over dusty archives during the monsoon, meeting policy experts and municipal engineers, and interviewing residents about the effects of urban redevelopment. Studying the sequence of policy-making and implementation over a long historical period helped me to uncover the recursive relationship between state regulations and the functioning of urban land markets.
I am working on two papers drawing on this research, and a book manuscript. The first paper traces out the political economy of urban regulations to understand how such regulations have impacted low-income housing (the answer: recursively! – with the corollary that deregulation is unlikely to have immediate beneficial effects). The second paper has a methodological bent and explores the use of
bureaucratic files as a data source. The file is a manuscript source – governance from the trenches – and is the closest we can come to seeing the state-in-action. I’m investigating the implications of using this data source for studying rules and rule application.
My research has been published in World Politics (this paper also won an award at APSA) and in the Social Service Review.
Sukriti Issar is Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Quantitative Political Science with a specialism in Political Economy.
I am very excited to be joining the ‘Politics in Spires’ team as a Deputy Graduate Editor. Since arriving in Oxford last year, to read for the MPhil in Comparative Government, the constant stream of diverse thematic
and regional posts on the blog has been a wonderful way to stay updated on developments in my field and goings-on in the world. It is a special resource that now contains over 400 articles from some of the leading
experts in politics and international relations. I find that whatever topic you work on there is almost always articles that you will find relevant on the blog.
“I spent a year doing fieldwork, poring over dusty archives during the monsoon,
meeting policy experts and municipal engineers, and
interviewing residents about the effects of urban
redevelopment.”
Profile: Bassam Gergi
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201417
PEOPLE
Profile: Armando Roman ZozayaI am a Mexican who completed a BA in Politics and International Relations at CIDE, Mexico. After that, I came to QEH-Oxford to read for an MPhil in Development Studies. Then, I did a PhD in Economics (Political Economy) at Instituto Ortega y Gasset-Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
While doing my MPhil, I met Carolyn, a British woman whom I married in 2003. After our marriage, I moved back from Madrid to Oxford. In this way, although I was reading for my doctorate in Spain, I actually lived in the UK until she and I migrated to Mexico (2007). Consequently, I wrote my thesis here (literally here: in the Social Science Library), and even did some tutoring for the Stanford Centre in Oxford as well as for Mansfield College. I also lectured at London Metropolitan University.
For as long as I can remember, I have been intrigued by the following question: why are there “developed” and “underdeveloped” countries? While I have not come up with a satisfying answer yet (has anyone!?), I do have a hypothesis: capitalism-capable societies tend to grow richer and, as a result, have a
better chance at actually developing; capitalism-incapable societies lag behind. The term capitalism-capable society is my own. I have written about it in academic articles, books, book chapters, book reviews and newspaper articles, both in English and in Spanish, some of which can be found on the internet.
In 2007-2013, I was a full-time lecturer at the Economics Department of Universidad Anahuac, Mexico. I lectured on Law and Economics, International Economy, Mexican Economy and Research Design. Likewise, I used to supervise both graduate and PhD theses. Also since 2007, I write a weekly column on Mexican affairs for Excelsior, a top Mexican newspaper. Similarly, in 2012, I was hired by the Mexico branch of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. I was one of five consultants in charge of producing a National Assessment on Trafficking in Humans in Mexico, a truly enriching experience.
Recently, my spouse and I decided to move back to England. This is why I am here now, working at the Department of Politics and International Relations, something
that makes me really happy: I am greatly pleased I got this job! I am also glad that, along with Carolyn, Charlie (our son) and Lennon (our Mexican Labrador dog), I get to enjoy Oxford, this magnificent city which, as Spanish novelist Javier Marias states in his All Souls, is perpetually ‘petrified in amber’: what a delight!
Armando Roman Zozaya isMPhil/MSc Coordinator
“I get to enjoy Oxford, this magnificent city which,
as Spanish novelist Javier Marias states in his ‘All Souls’,
is perpetually ‘petrified in amber’: what a delight!”
As an undergraduate, I was the news editor for the London University student newspaper and I worked with the eZine openDemocracy to launch and maintain their Middle East section in the midst of the Arab uprisings. I also contribute editorials occasionally to various U.S.-based publications. What makes working for ‘Politics in Spires’ special though is the opportunity to engage with graduate students and scholars here at the University who are the forefront of the global debate-taking place on a host of issues. It is rare to have so much knowledge and expertise available to contribute to one single blog.
In particular, I am looking forward to working to commission and bring further content in on the current debate over contentious politics. With thousands of citizens across the globe, from the student movements in Chile to the protesters in Tahrir Square, participating in unprecedented ways in the political process, it is important to understand the implications and mechanisms driving these movements. If you are interested in writing for the blog or if you have any questions for me, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Bassam Gergi is Deputy Graduate Editor of the Politics in Spires blog team and an MPhil student in Comparative Government.
My first impressions of DPIR have been overwhelmingly positive, which probably explains why I was asked to write this. I do hope the following makes a good stab at justifying my impressions, though.
Admittedly, I had little to do with the department during Michaelmas. I mostly stuck to my college (St Antony’s), where I thought – it being a graduate institution – that socialising would be easy and studying in my bedroom sufficient. Consider that my first significant mistake of the DPhil. College life as a DPhil threatened to be a bit isolating simply because my rhythm was so different to that of the majority Masters students. The library there is also understandably limited. Not to mention, departments in my past experience were bureaucratic dungeons deep in the bowels of the university where you went to sort out horrible admin problems. They certainly were not the places you went to for mutual support or cosy lounge areas or free drinks.
And yet that’s basically what DPIR has turned out to be. Firstly, I’m grateful I have a desk, my own little corner of the department with easy access to all things
academic. I sit there virtually every weekday to work*. But since a lot of other DPhils with broadly similar interests do too, it’s swiftly becoming a great place to socialise. Sinking in a bog of readings and need to escape? Hop to the free coffee machine in the kitchen and see who happens to be around for a chat. Struggling to untangle a problem in your theoretical argument? Gather a handful of friends, sit in those comfy green seats by that lonely looking plant and hold a brainstorming session. Got a horrible admin problem? The friendly staff are always visible – either just round the corner in their offices or even sharing the free coffee with you. Needless to say, most of my friendships at Oxford stem from the DPIR hub.
I would add a word of caution, though. Because the Department is very active academically, there is no end to the emails every day inviting you to one event or another. That’s a lot of free wine (hurrah!) It can also prove to be the single biggest distraction from work and some discipline is necessary to avoid overdoing the colloquia, workshops, and guest lectures. Nevertheless, it’s comforting to know that there are all these teeming networks around to tap into should I need some fresh ideas.
DPIR, more than my college, has become my ‘home’ at Oxford, by which I mean the place I feel most comfortable getting on with things. It’s quiet and offers most of the comforts I need for a day’s procrastinating hard research. I have even heard rumours of a shower somewhere on the premises, although I hope never to have to use it.
*apart from the times I’m on Facebook, Googling, listening to music, drinking hot chocolate, Skyping, emailing, texting, laughing at memes, and merely pretending to work
DPhil student Densua Mumford writes about the highs and caffeine lows of being a new student in the Department.
Student Life
“DPIR, more than my college, has become my ‘home’ at Oxford, by which I mean the place I feel
most comfortable getting on with things..”
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201419
List of Student Societies
PoliticalDemocrats Abroad OxfordWe help Americans register to vote from abroad, and cater to the needs of Democrats in the Oxford [email protected]
Education Activist NetworkCampaign of students and education workers against fees, cuts and the marketisation of public [email protected]
Oxford Communist Corresponding SocietyCapitalist civilization is moribund, but the established Left’s busy reliving the last century. Finding a way forward demands serious [email protected]
Oxford Conservative AssociationA society for students of the University to advance the Conservative cause, broadly founded, amongst their peers and [email protected]
Oxford International Relations SocietyWe arrange speaker events and [email protected]
Oxford Left ReviewA journal of left-wing opinion based in the University of [email protected]
Oxford Students For LibertyCivil liberties campaign group and political / ethical debating society. [email protected]
Oxford University Labour ClubOULC is home to the Labour Party and the left in Oxford: regular speakers, great socials, policy discussions, year-round [email protected]
Oxford University Liberal DemocratsOULD provides a thriving and friendly society for the university’s Liberals, organising socials and supporting local [email protected]
Oxford University Strategic Studies GroupSociety for discussion of contemporary international, strategic and security [email protected]
Oxford Women in BusinessA Student Society promoting the role of Women in the business world. We host a number of speakers every term representing women who are leaders in their [email protected]
Oxford Women in PoliticsThe leading university-wide society dedicated to advancing the role of women in public and professional life: cultivating, inspiring and [email protected]
Oxford Young GreensStudents and young people of Oxford campaigning for a more democratic, sustainable and equal [email protected]
Socialist Worker Student Society (SWSS)We are a group of activists at the heart of campaigns within and beyond the university. We also organise weekly meetings and [email protected]
STUDENT SOCIETIES
(Listed alphabetically)
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201420
STUDENT SOCIETIES
CulturalArab SocietyArab Society brings Arab student from Middle East, North Africa, and Diaspora together. The society conducts cultural events and [email protected]
Asia-Pacific SocietyWe aim to promote a better understanding of social, economic and political issues related to Asia at [email protected]
China-Britain Youth Association (Oxford)Strengthening mutual understanding and building relationships between students and young professionals in China and [email protected]
NEWs Oxford (a.k.a. Oxford Dutch Society)NEWS Oxford is a society that organizes events for Dutch (-speaking) students in [email protected]
Oxford African and Caribbean SocietySociety promoting and celebrating Afro-Caribbean culture and furthering the interests of black minority communities in the University. [email protected]
Oxford African SocietyWe seek to provide a forum for all Africans and those connected to the continent by way of descent, research or interest. [email protected]
Oxford Channel Islands SocietyOpen to all from, or with an interest in, the Channel Islands. Social events throughout the [email protected]
Oxford Chinese International Awareness (OXCIA)Promoting Chinese culture in [email protected]
Oxford Chinese Students and Scholars Association (OXCSSA)OXCSSA is a non-political, non-religious and non-profit society that serves Chinese students and scholars in [email protected]
Oxford International Debating SocietyThe Society educates students on debating as well as public [email protected]
Oxford Italian SocietyThe Society’s objectives are the support, development, improvement and promotion of the Italian culture and language in the University of [email protected]
Oxford Majlis Asian SocietyAre you of Asian heritage or interested in Asian culture? If so, join us today! The Oxford Majlis Asian Society, which was founded in 1896, is the second oldest student society at Oxford University after the Oxford [email protected]
Oxford Mexican SocietyThe Society aims to organise the Mexican Community at the University and to present the Mexican Culture to the wider public at [email protected]
Oxford Thai SocietyThe Society aims to bring Thai members of the University together and promote a better understanding of Thailand and its [email protected]
Oxford University Australia New Zealand Society (OUANZ)OUANZ exists to help Australians, New Zealanders, and those with general Antipodean interests get the most out of their time at [email protected]
Oxford University Brazilian SocietyThe Society aims to create a group of Brazilian people and people that like [email protected]
Oxford University Canadian SocietyCanadian nationals and enthusiasts at the University of Oxford organising various social, professional, and academic [email protected]
Oxford University Chabad SocietyThe Society aims to promote Jewish culture, tradition and [email protected]
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201421
STUDENT SOCIETIES
Oxford University Chinese Society (OUCS)A non-profit society for Chinese Students in Oxford as well as [email protected]
Oxford University Czech and Slovak SocietyWe organize social events for Czech and Slovak students and anybody interested in Czech and Slovak languages and [email protected]
Oxford University European Affairs Society (OUEAS)OUEAS is Oxford’s hub for all things European. Whether it’s talks and debates about the hot topics, or an appreciation of European food and [email protected]
Oxford University German SocietyA hub for all students interested in German social events, language, culture and [email protected]
Oxford University Greek SocietyThe Society aims to promote Greek culture and interests and create opportunities for interaction among its members for that [email protected]
Oxford University Hindu SocietyThe Society promotes traditional Hindu values and ethics, bringing students of Hindu background [email protected]
Oxford University Hong Kong SocietyWe foster and promote the fellowship of Hong Kong residents pursuing education, training, higher research and/or other activities in [email protected]
Oxford University Hungarian SocietyWe organize speaker events on subjects related to Hungary and we hold social events enjoyable for both Hungarians and [email protected]
Oxford University Japan SocietyA vibrant student-run society aiming to introduce/promote Japanese culture and provide an interface between Japanese students in Oxford and those interested in [email protected]
Oxford University Lithuanian SocietyWe unite Lithuanians and Lithuanian enthusiasts living in Oxford, and organize cultural, intellectual and social [email protected]
Oxford University Portuguese SocietyOur goal is to promote and divulge Portuguese culture within the University of Oxford and the Oxfordshire [email protected]
Oxford University Spanish SocietyOxford’s one-stop society for all things Spanish! Our events include wine-tastings, club nights, movie nights, tapas evenings and much [email protected]
Oxford University Taiwanese Student SocietyOUTSS provides a welcoming platform for Taiwanese students and their friends in Oxford, to promote global understanding of Taiwanese [email protected]
Oxford University Ukrainian SocietyOUUS promotes Ukrainian culture and intellectual heritage within the University of [email protected]
The Oxford Society of Sufi CultureWe promote Sufism, the kernel of Islam, through talks, poetry readings, concerts and [email protected]
Vietnamese Society in OxfordA cultural/national society open to all students in Oxford, especially to Vietnamese students studying in [email protected]
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201422
Charities, Community & EthicsAIESEC OxfordAIESEC is an international non-profit organisation currently based in 106 countries. It is run by student volunteers with the aim of promoting cultural understanding, developing real world skills and activating leadership among [email protected]
Animal Ethics SocietyProviding a forum for the discussion of the moral status of [email protected]
Amnesty International Student GroupStudent group which focuses on raising awareness of human rights issues and campaigns for [email protected]
ATP Graduate MentoringATP Mentoring gives support and tips on how to navigate and negotiate the unique academic and social maze of Oxford University. It boosts confidence for academic and professional [email protected]
Christian Aid OxfordChristian Aid is an emergency relief, international development and advocacy charity. We work to tackle poverty with over 600 partners of all faiths and none in nearly 50 developing countries. [email protected]
Development Abroad, OxfordStudent run charity that works to harness the energy, enthusiasm and resources of the Oxford student body to assist with small-scale, community-initiated development projects in the developing [email protected]
Education Partnerships Africa, OxfordUK charity and East African NGO which works to improve the quality of education for young people in rural Kenya and Uganda by sending UK university students from Cambridge, Oxford and London, to work in these schools and invest directly into resources aimed at improving the quality of education received by the students. [email protected]
ENACTUS OxfordWe are a group of entrepreneurial students who want to make an impact in the [email protected]
Exeter College Vacation ProjectFounded in 1982 and granted charity status in 2002, the Exeter College Vacation Project organises holidays for children from deprived background who live in the Oxford [email protected]
Geology for Global Development (Oxford Group)Geology for Global Development recognises the significant contribution that good geoscience can make to international development and the fight against global [email protected]
Giving What We Can: OxfordAn organisation for effective [email protected]
Global Brigades OxfordStudent society associated with Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led health & sustainable development [email protected]
JacariJacari is a student charity providing home tutoring for children aged 4-16 who don’t speak English as their first language. Students spend an hour a week helping a child in the areas in which they are [email protected]
KEENProviding sporting and social opportunities for young people in Oxford with special [email protected]
OU LGBTQ SocietyThe Society aims to meet the social/welfare needs of all lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer/questioning members of the Oxford [email protected]
Oxbridge Summer Camps Abroad (OSCA)OSCA is a registered charity that runs English teaching summer camps in Asia, offering fully funded places to volunteers from Oxford and Cambridge [email protected]
Oxford Aegis SocietyThe Oxford Aegis Society aims to raise awareness about and campaign against genocide and human rights atrocities around the [email protected]
STUDENT SOCIETIES
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201423
Oxford Aid to the Balkans (OXAB)We provide volunteering opportunities in South Eastern Europe in a variety of projects in Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria and [email protected]
Oxford Burma AllianceThe aim of the Oxford Burma Alliance is to spread awareness about Burma issues and create a long-lasting advocacy movement in Oxford supporting the movement towards change within [email protected]
Oxford Development AbroadStudent-run charity organising opportunities for volunteers to work with small-scale,community-initiated development projects in Nepal, Uganda and [email protected]
Oxford Global Health Group (OGHG)Oxford Global Health Group is a student run organisation that aims to promote interest in international health [email protected]
Oxford HubOxford Hub is the focal point for student volunteering and social action in [email protected]
Oxford Kenya Education PartnershipsA charity which works to improve the quality of education for young people in rural [email protected]
Oxford Lawyers Without BordersThe Oxford Lawyers Without Borders society seeks to promote human rights from a legal point of [email protected]
Oxford Legal AssistanceOLA is the University’s pro bono programme open to undergraduates. Students are given the opportunity to do practical legal work for the benefit of people living in the local area. [email protected]
Oxford NightlineTelephone listening helpline - confidential listening, support and information, for students by students, throughout the night. 8PM - 8AM, 0th - 9th week. [email protected]
Oxford Student PENOxford Student PEN campaigns for freedom of expression, for migrant and refugee rights, and promotes literature in [email protected]
Oxford Student Red Cross SocietyWe are the official student-run group of the British Red Cross at [email protected]
Oxford University Oxfam Society Charity organisation that works with Oxfam to hold events, raise money and promote Oxfam [email protected]
Oxford University SIFEThe Oxford branch of the international student organization SIFE runs innovative social enterprise projects to help communities locally and [email protected]
Oxford University United Nations AssociationWe aim to demonstrate our passion for the work of the [email protected]
Oxford Women for Women InternationalStudent branch of a global charity which campaigns and raises money for women in developing countries affected by [email protected]
Sexpression OxfordOxford branch of Sexpression UK provides comprehensive sex and relationship education in local schools and communities in an informed and non-judgmental [email protected]
SKIP OxfordSKIP Oxford is a student-led charity which runs healthcare education projects in Northern Thailand every [email protected]
Student Run Self Help (SRSH)SRSH trains, supervises and empowers student volunteers in running self-help groups for other student’s suffering with Eating Disorders. [email protected]
Students Supporting Street Kids (SSSK)Oxford Branch of UK charity raising funds and awareness, supporting projects worldwide. Student-run with no [email protected]
The Oxford Howard LeagueWe campaign for prison reform by fundraising and holding speaker events. [email protected]
Isis MagazineOxford’s oldest student magazine, and the longest-running independent student publication in the [email protected]
OU Student Web Media TeamGet professional training and support making short videos about Oxford: and see your work live on the University [email protected]
Oxford Media SocietySpeaking society for all areas of the [email protected]
Oxide RadioOxide Radio is Oxford University’s student radio station, broadcasting music, news, chat, comment, debate, sport, you name [email protected]
St Antony’s International ReviewPeer-reviewed journal of international affairs. Run by graduate [email protected]
The Oxonian GlobalistA foreign affairs magazine by the students of Oxford University. [email protected]
STUDENT SOCIETIES
TravelAidTravelAid trains volunteers to fundraise, and eventually provide either teaching or healthcare assistance, to underprivileged communities in countries ranging from El Salvador to [email protected]
Voice for Ethical Research at OxfordPromotes animal-free medical research in the University, and animal-friendly policies and practices more generally (eg. vegetarianism/veganism)[email protected]
Winton VolunteersOffering opportunities to volunteer on creative writing projects with early onset dementia [email protected]
YELP students OxfordA society which organises student volunteers in Oxford to tutor students in nearby schools, both after school and on [email protected]
Photo by Hannah Bond
DPIR STUDENT NEWSWIRE, HILARY TERM 201425
Thank you for reading this issue of Student Newswire - we hope you enjoyed it!
Many many thanks, also, to all who have kindly contributed to it.
If you have announcements, notices or suggestions for editorial pieces for Trinity Term’s issue, please contact James Baldwin, [email protected].
Copy deadline: Monday 14 May 2014
Political Cartoon CompetitionCongratulations to Michael!
The winner of the Hilary edition of DPIR Student Newswire Political Cartoon Competition is Michael Jones (Oriel College), on how the Winter Olympics in Sochi have highlighted Russia’s LGBT policies:
