News
Access the following links for additional University news and events:
Professor Yvonne Galligan is elected to the Academy of Social Science
Professor Yvonne Galligan is elected to the Academy of Social Science. Welcoming the announcement, Head of School Professor Rick Wilford said: “This honour recognises Yvonne as an outstanding social scientist. Her nomination by the Political Studies Association is a reflection of her significant contribution to political science.” Yvonne said: “I am delighted to join a small, but growing, group of scholars from Northern Ireland elected to the Academy. I look forward to making a contribution to advancing social science through the Academy in the coming years.”
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College of Europe Award Announced
Katrina Walsh, an MA student on the School’s Legislative Studies and Practice pathway has been awarded the island of Ireland’s sole European Neighbourhood Policy Scholarship by the College of Europe. Acting Head of School, Professor Rick Wilford, commented: ‘This is a major achievement and one Katrina, and the School, can be justifiably proud of. I’m sure she will thrive in what will be for her an exciting and challenging environment’.
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World Leading Professors join PISP
We are delighted to announce that Professors John Coakley and Brendan O’Leary have taken up their positions as World Leading Professors in PISP. Both are highly esteemed political scientists: Professor Coakley, UCD, and Professor O’Leary, University of Pennsylvania, will be based in the School for at least a month each year for the next three years and will contribute to the enhancement of its research and educational culture over that period. Welcoming their appointments, Professor Rick Wilford, the Acting Head of School, stated: ‘The appointment of both Brendan and John is a signal development in the evolution of the School. They are truly global scholars and will add much to the thriving research and educational environment within PISP. I look forward to working with them in ways that will further improve our reputation as one of the top 100 politics departments in the world’.
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'The Fight for Silence'
Congratulations to Roisin McCrink, final year undergraduate in Philosophy and English, who has just published her first novel. 'The Fight for Silence' is a thriller which will be launched at Bookfinders on University Road on 17 May at 6.30pm.
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International Conference on Democratic Autonomy, of the Democratic Society Congress of Kurdistan
Dr. Ephraim Nimni has been invited as a keynote speaker to International Conference on Democratic Autonomy, of the Democratic Society Congress of Kurdistan, that takes place in the city of Amed- Diyarbakir in Turkey, on 12-13 May 2012. His lecture will be on models for autonomy and non-territorial self-determination.
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British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship
John Garry has been awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship. The research award is for £116,000 and will fund a year’s research leave to study the subject of ‘consociationalism and voting’. Research leave will commence on 1 September 2012.
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Vanderbilt Fellowship
Paddy McQueen, a doctoral candidate in political theory, has been awarded a one-year Fellowship at Vanderbilt University’s prestigious Robert Penn Warren Centre. Paddy is the first of our post-graduate students to win the Fellowship, the achievement of which is a signal of the quality of his work.
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Chinese PhD scholarships
Queen’s University Belfast invites applications from outstanding Chinese students from selected Universities to pursue PhD study at Queen’s University Belfast in collaboration with the China Scholarship Council (CSC). There are 20 fully funded three year research studentships, commencing October 2012. The studentships provide fees and living costs.
The School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy has been awarded three of these scholarships in the following areas:
China, Rising Powers and Coalition Building in Global Economic Governance (Drs Andreasson and Baker)
Sustainability and the transition to a low carbon economy (Dr. John Barry)
Theories of modernisation and the ecological crisis (Dr. John Barry)
To check if you are eligible to apply, please check the following website http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/ResearchEnterprise/ChinaScholarshipCouncilQueensUniversityScholarships/. If you are interested in any of these three PhD sscholarships, please contact the potential PhD supervisors above. Details on how to apply can be found here - http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/ResearchEnterprise/ChinaScholarshipCouncilQueensUniversityScholarships/ApplicationProcess/
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PISP Student Experience Survey 2011 - Results
Politics, International Studies and Philosophy is a student-focused School and regularly monitors the student experience. The School’s 2011 Student Experience Survey, carried out at the end of the academic year, shows some excellent findings about students’ level of satisfaction of the teaching and learning experience in the School. The results are outlined in table 1. 86 per cent of students indicate that the School has helpful and interested staff. 83 per cent indicate that lectures are high quality; that the tuition they experience in small groups is useful for exploring ideas outlined in lectures; and that the School has high quality teaching staff. Students also report finding it easy to communicate with staff and being kept up to date with information about their modules and courses. Different year groups have similar levels of overall satisfaction, thereby underlining the quality of the PISP teaching experience throughout a student’s time studying in the School.
Table 1: Overall satisfaction
|
|
% Agree
|
N
|
|
PISP has helpful and interested staff
|
86
|
84
|
|
Lectures on courses are high quality
|
83
|
84
|
|
Tuition in small groups is helpful for exploring ideas
|
83
|
84
|
|
PISP has high quality teaching staff
|
83
|
84
|
|
Easy to communicate with teaching staff
|
81
|
84
|
|
Kept up to date with module information
|
77
|
84
|
Head of School Prof. Rick Wilford said on the release of these figures ‘These are excellent results for student satisfaction in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy. They demonstrate how students appreciate the outstanding learning experience that is delivered in the School, how engaged the teaching staff are both with the subjects they teach but also with how they communicate with students. This underlines the feedback that we get from external examiners and observers about PISP’s excellent standard of teaching. At all levels, this shows that students in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy can therefore expect a high level of quality in their teaching and learning experience in their time with us’.
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What students think about our teaching in Politics and Philosophy
Details of 'What students think about our teaching in Politics and Philosophy' are available here
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The School of Politics in the World’s top 100 Departments
In July 2011 the influential journal Higher Education World published its highly trusted ranking of Politics Departments across the globe, announcing that our Politics and International Studies provision is among the best in the world. The Acting Head of School, Professor Rick Wilford, commented: ‘The outcome of the ranking exercise is further testimony to the quality of our teaching and research and of the employability of our graduates. To be in the top 100 is a significant achievement and one that contributes to the University’s goal of becoming one of the top 100 higher education institutions in the world’. Details of the rankings can be found at
www.topuniversities.com
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