Politics (MPhil / PhD)

OUR RESEARCH CULTURE

Study resources include regular graduate research seminars, courses on research methodology and the opportunity to attend a wide variety of taught MSc classes, both within the Department of Politics and in other departments of Birkbeck and the University of London, and to participate in national and international research conferences and seminars. Additionally, we organise regular seminars and conferences and act as a centre for the discussion of public policy and research in this field.

We run regular events with leading academics and policy-makers from the UK and beyond and host Birkbeck’s Centre for the Study of British Politics and Public Life and Population, Environment and Resources Group.

Birkbeck Library has an extensive teaching collection of books and journals in politics and sociology. It also has an impressive range of electronic resources, including bibliographic databases and over 17,000 electronic journals. Most of these resources can be accessed online 24 hours a day. It is worth spending some time on the library website to familiarise yourself with its collections and services.

You can also take advantage of the rich research collections nearby, including those of the Senate House Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science (LSE Library) and the British Library.

Read more about our vibrant research culture.

Recent research topics include:

• Kurdish politics in Syria
• Westminster guarded: party nomination processes and women candidates in Canada and Britain
• Impact of user involvement on NHS governance
• Evaluating the impact of interorganisational networks in urban regeneration on unemployment policy outcomes
• The relevance of cosmopolitan democracy as a possible framework for understanding political transformations in East Africa
• Discipline and process: new phases in the rational modernisation of political organisation
• Revolution, myth and the origins of Fascism.

TRAINING AND TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES

From the application form and interview we ascertain the level of training you have already received and indicate if the School requires further training to occur. A range of skills training is provided by the Department and the College, and you will be directed to appropriate advanced training outside the College.

Some research students have the opportunity to teach for one to two hours a week on Birkbeck's undergraduate and Master's programmes; where this is the case, you receive close supervision from full-time staff and are required to attend the School part-time teachers' training sessions.

The Department encourages students to attend lecturer-training courses provided through the College.