Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University

The guest speaker series for the first year module Behind the Headlines continues. This week it was the turn of our Head of Department Dr Alistair Shepherd to share his expertise. Alistair talked about current threats to European security & the challenges in addressing them.

Congratulations to Dr Harry Warne, who successfully defended his PhD thesis titled “Democratic decline and democratic innovation: A framework for expanding the ontological horizon of the field of democratic innovations”, supervised by Professor Milja Kurki and Dr Elin Royles.

On Saturday, 17 October the Department organised a panel on The Role of Civil Society and International Organisations in Peacemaking as part of the @aberuni.bsky.social alumni weekend and to mark the centenary of the meeting of the International Federation of the League of Nations in Aberystwyth.

This week's speaker at the International Politics Research Seminar was @andreawarnecke.bsky.social from Leiden University, whose presentation (Claiming Impartiality: Peacebuilding Organizations as Actors in Multiple Fields of Global Governance) was based on her recently published book.

The guest speaker series for the first year undergraduate module Behind the Headlines continues - this week it was the turn of Dr Richard Hughes, who recently completed his PhD in the Department, to share his insights into power projection.

Recently Dr Elin Royles gave evidence to @senedd.wales Constitution, Justice and External Affairs Committee that was informed by her research into intergovernmental relations and Welsh sub-state diplomacy.

On Saturday we welcomed visitors to the @aberuni.bsky.social Open Day. Academic staff and student ambassadors were based at the department's stand in MedRus, along with the other departments in the humanities faculty.

We also offered several events in the department throughout the day, including subject talks in English and Welsh, and a Question Time panel where visitors asked questions about topical political issues and received instant (and, of course, very well-informed) analysis.

Last night @terezacapelos.bsky.social delivered a truly memorable EH Carr Memorial Lecture, sharing insights from her research into emotions and politics. Her fascinating talk focused on the dynamics that can turn grievance in a direction that undermines democracy.

Welcome Dr Oliver Dodd, a new ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department, working on "The International Political Economy of War and Peace in Colombia: Conflict Persistence and Negotiated Settlement". Oliver did his undergraduate degree here in the Department, so this is really a welcome back!

Congratulations to Assala Khettache, who passed her PhD viva yesterday. Her thesis, “When the Mercenary Plays the Liberator: Wagner Group and the Weaponisation of Collective Moral Injury in Africa”, was examined by Sarah Jenkins (University of Galway) and Professor Berit Bliesemann de Guevara.

Last week was welcome week - the first week of the new academic year, and it was filled with welcome and welcome back events and meetings. These included prize givings for returning second and third year students for excellent work carried out last academic year.

Congratulations to our colleague Dr Andrew Davenport, whose book, Capital and the International: On the Dialectic of Value and Sovereignty, is published today by Bristol University Press! 🎉🎉🎉

Last weekend a macrame model made by Professor Berit Bliesemann de Guevara was part of an exhibition in London. The model, which reflects on the research process of the (Un-)Stitching Gazes project in Colombia) was included in the Textile Intersections exhibition at Imperial College London.

Many congratulations to Dr Llŷr ab Einion, the latest Interpol PhD student to pass his viva! His thesis, titled Grym a Chredoau mewn Cysylltiadau Rhynglywodraethol (Power and Beliefs in Intergovernmental Relations) was supervised by Elin Royles and Huw Lewis.

Congratulations to our colleague @hannahhughes.bsky.social on the publication of her policy brief for a United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) special forum on science-policy interfaces. In it, she examines the importance of participation. unu.edu/publication/...

On 9 September our colleague Dr. Ahmad Umar organised a hybrid seminar about Indo-Pacific Research, with a focus on European transregional engagement. The speakers included Professor Poppy S. Winanti from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, who presented her paper on EU-Indonesia trade relations.