Keele University - Home · 2019-09-12 · situation in Syria in 2013. This is complemented by SPIRE’s support for the externally-oriented World Affairs Programme, which has over

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Impact template (REF3a)

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Institution: Keele University

Unit of Assessment: C21 Politics and International Studies

a. Context: Almost all the staff in Politics and International Relations from SPIRE (School of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and the Environment) engaged with non-academic organisations and actors in their research activity in this period. The impact of this is evident at local, national and international levels with an extensive range of groups, including local communities, Third Sector organisations, political parties, the general public, UK, EU and UN political institutions, national governments of other countries, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). There are two main types of impact: (1) direct work with specific users, such as governments, political parties, voters, environmental activists, war veterans, and local communities, achieved through formal and informal collaborative partnerships and consultancies and (2) contributions to public debate through public engagement.

b. Approach to impact

(1) Direct work with and for specific users: Staff have worked with governments and international organisations, applying their research to inform policy. As a result of his research on the Indian Ocean Region, Doyle was appointed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2013 as one of only four Australians to be an advisor to the Indian and Australian Governments’ Indian Ocean Security Task Force. Support from SPIRE enabled him to take part in meetings in Kenya and India, including rearranging and covering his teaching responsibilities. This is routine practice in order to allow colleagues the flexibility to take advantage of major opportunities for impact. Other instances in which this principle was followed included: Ryan’s authorship of reports on policing and security for the Montenegrin Ministry of the Interior (funded by the OSCE) and for the Irish government, (the Department of Foreign Affairs commented that this had ‘contributed significantly’ to its decisions on funding security projects in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus); Ladrech’s consultancy for the EU Parliament on funding for Party Foundations, which led to changes in its policy in 2008; and Doherty’s co-authorship of a report and training for the Environment Agency on its relationships with Special Interest Groups (2008).

(2) Contributions to public debate through public engagement: In the UK, research briefings were given at the House of Commons by Sheikh (on Poverty and Islamic Radicalisation, January 2010); Luther (for the special interest group on Austria, February 2009); and the House of Lords (Dobson for a DEFRA roundtable on attitudes towards sustainability, October 2010). Luther’s research on Austrian politics has led to regular high-level contact with the British and Austrian governments, for which he was honoured by the Austrian Government in April 2009, and he worked with European social-democratic party foundations as an invited expert in two panels on democratic legitimacy (January and February 2013). Luther and Gökay have taken part in part in Chatham House/RIIIA Working Groups, the results of one of which, on the Global Economic crisis in November 2009, were published in a report by the City of London. In addition, many staff have given research-based talks to a wide range of non-academic audiences, such as the Indian Council of World Affairs (Doyle, June 2011); Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Catney, April 2010); National Council for Voluntary Organisations (Doherty, June 2008); and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Dobson, July 2013), all of which arose from Research Council-funded projects, which had been designed to ensure pathways to impact.

Keele European Parties Research Unit was the UK team (led by Carter) in the EU-Profiler project,


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which was designed to allow voters to find which parties in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections were closest to their own policy preferences. There were 419,323 visits to the UK site – and the Profiler project, co-ordinated by the European University Institute – won the World e-Democracy Forum award in 2009 for its contribution to public knowledge and debate. In March 2012 Doherty co-organised a two-day workshop with Sciences Po Rennes and Aston University, for activists from Britain and France who had been prosecuted for protest actions, and their defence lawyers. This was the first occasion of its kind, contributing to capacity building through the exchange of knowledge of legal processes and the development of an informal cross-national network. SPIRE also organises specific events targeted at the local public – including symposia on the US 2008 and UK 2010 elections attended by local schools, and on Turkish protests and the situation in Syria in 2013. This is complemented by SPIRE’s support for the externally-oriented World Affairs Programme, which has over 400 current members and attracts high-profile speakers from the world of politics and public affairs (including George Osborne, Baroness Shirley Williams and Lord Winston in this period).

The expertise and resources provided by Keele’s Research and Enterprise Services and the Faculty Research Office (FRO) contributed to impact though the provision of legal, financial and communications advice and through University-level initiatives. Because Keele joined the European Institute for Technology-funded Knowledge and Innovation Community on Climate Change, SPIRE was able to host one of three practitioner Pioneers into Practice who came to Keele from other EU countries in 2013 to learn about the research on environmental politics within the School. A recent FRO appointment focuses on ensuring impact and public engagement are embedded in all our routine practices, grant applications and strategic planning, and the creation of a new Directorate of Marketing and Communications (MAC) in 2011, and consequent specialist PR advice, has led to increased national media profile for the School through appearances on BBC TV Breakfast (Herbert, 6/11/2012 and 1/09/2013); The Politics Show (Dobson 24/03/2012) and Radio 4 Analysis (Dobson 9/10/2011); BBC Radio 5 Live, Drive (Catney 30/7/2013); the Victoria Derbyshire Show (Doherty 24/4/2013); a BBC History podcast on the Falklands war (Parr 5/4/2013); and Gökay will take part in a BBC programme in which academics analyse the 2013 BBC4 series The Ottomans. SPIRE staff have also written research commentaries for the media: Newey wrote regularly for the London Review of Books while in SPIRE; Gökay wrote articles on human rights and protests in Turkey in 2012 and 2013; Dobson wrote seven articles on climate change and environmentalism (2008-12) for Open Democracy; and Doherty’s research on direct action was featured in The Financial Times (1/10/2009) and influenced the Reader’s Editor of The Observer to take the unprecedented decision to disavow an article on ‘eco-terrorism’ post-publication (23/11/2008). This is in addition to the numerous interviews and background briefings given by staff to national and international newspapers and broadcast media (too many to list in the space available).

c. Strategy and plans

The REF period has seen a step change increase in our levels of engagement with external groups. This is consistent with the impact agenda of the REF, but goes well beyond it, and reflects a longstanding commitment by SPIRE to viewing academic research as a contribution to the public sphere. In the past, this was particularly evident in the field of human rights and the environment, as the two impact case studies attest. A notable additional example is Matthew Paterson (Keele 1994-2005, now Ottawa) whose research on climate change politics, published before he left Keele, was instrumental in his appointment as a Lead Author for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2010-14). What has changed is that we now


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have a systematic set of procedures, supported by expertise and resources from the wider University, that builds in planning to maximise impact as integral to all SPIRE’s research (through regular review of the plans of individuals, the School and the Research Institute), and recognises work with non-academic groups and impact as elements in calculating time for research, plans for research leave, annual appraisals and promotions. Staff promoted in this period for whom the impact of their research beyond academia made a significant contribution included Gökay, Ladrech and Luther (to Professorships) and Carter, Catney, Herbert and Parr (to Senior Lectureships).

Recognising that the direct work relationships with non-academic groups weaken when neglected, a core element of our future strategy is based on planning to sustain relationships with strategically significant partner groups. The underlying principle is that, where it is possible, the co-production of knowledge with research subjects strengthens impact. Thus we have invested in professionally produced videos for the ESRC/EPSRC Energy and Communities ‘Reducing Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge Networks’ project involving Dobson, Catney and MacGregor, and members of the communities that were subjects of the research. This project has been actively engaged in developing local community networks for alleviating fuel poverty and promoting energy conservation, and this work is continuing after the RCUK funding ends. Other partner groups have invested in our research because they recognise its value. Gökay’s strong links with policy-makers resulted in the Turkish government funding an ongoing seminar series at Keele on Modern Turkey, launched by the Turkish Ambassador in 2012. Collaboration with Stoke City Council (led by Catney) developed directly from an ESRC project, which resulted in the Council jointly funding a PhD studentship to investigate the governance of Stoke and Staffordshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership. These principles have been embedded in research practice in SPIRE for many years but are now supported at University-level by specific resources and expertise (for example, on media training) that will enable us to sustain ties with research users in the future.

We also aim to continue the kinds of contribution to public knowledge and debate outlined in section b, maintaining successful current practices, but adding to them with new initiatives, such as the bite-sized open access research digests summarising research projects, to be launched in 2014 (the production of which will be assisted by the MAC Directorate at Keele). This initiative is a direct response to suggestions from media advisers at Keele and journalists about how to increase impact and we are confident that it will lead to greater use of our research by the public.

d. Relationship to case studies

The strategic approach outlined in section c is informed by the experience of successful impact in the two case studies. Both were the outcome of long-term investments in building partnerships with non-academic groups, which enabled the co-production of knowledge: Dobson through ties with green activists and Thornberry through his work for NGOs such as Minority Rights Group, both of which began in the 1990s. The impact outlined in the case studies was informed by related work in SPIRE and mutual learning about impact beyond academia. Dobson’s work with the Green Party and Green House has synergies with Doherty and Doyle’s work with Friends of the Earth and other green activists, while Thornberry’s UN work links with Ryan’s on post-conflict policing. Doyle’s work with the Indian Ocean Research Group, Doherty’s for the Environment Agency, and the engagement with local community and Third Sector groups through the Reducing Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge Networks RCUK project, demonstrate that staff have an established practice of bringing their research to other groups.

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Impact case study (REF3b)

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Institution: Keele University Unit of Assessment: C21 Politics and International Studies Title of case study: Environmental Citizenship, environmentalism and ecologism, and pro-environment behaviour 1. Summary of the impact Professor Andrew Dobson’s research into environmental politics and, in particular, the nature, meaning, and policy relevance of the idea of ‘environmental citizenship’, spans 25 years. This research has had, and continues to have, particular impact on two key areas: (1) environmental campaigns for social, economic and political change, including being lead writer of the Green Party’s 2010 General Election manifesto (2) the portfolio of policies available to the Government, and to a range of bodies and organisations (including Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and commercial organisations), for encouraging more pro-environmental behaviour 2. Underpinning research Professor Dobson’s work on environmental politics and environmental citizenship has led to two strands of research that underpin his claimed impact: (1) developments in his notion of ‘ecologism’, first espoused in 1990 in his groundbreaking Green Political Thought, the 4th edition of which appeared in 2007, and (2) an original conception of the relationship between citizenship and the environment called ‘ecological citizenship’. (1) ‘Ecologism’ is distinguished from ‘environmentalism’ in Dobson’s work, in that the former ‘holds that a sustainable and fulfilling existence presupposes radical changes in our relationship with the non-human natural world, and in our mode of social and political life’, while the latter ‘argues for a managerial approach to environmental problems, secure in the belief that they can be solved without fundamental changes in present values or patterns of production and consumption’ (2007: 2-3). The rise of environmental politics up the political agenda has ensured that ‘environmentalism’ is now a part of everyday political life, but Dobson’s ‘ecologism’ is a challenge to the conventional consensus that sustainability can be seamlessly woven into any political party’s manifesto. He argues that it is as much a self-contained ideology as socialism, liberalism or conservatism. Dobson has been engaged in research establishing ‘ecologism’ as an ideology in its own right for over 20 years, and recent interventions have focused on the role of ecologism in the ‘we are all environmentalists now’ conditions of the new millennium (2009). (2) The second strand of research – ecological citizenship (2003) – has developed out of Dobson’s long-standing interest in the effect that the ‘ecological turn’ has had on enduring themes in political theory. His work in this field includes books and articles on democracy and on justice, and ‘citizenship’ is the third concept towards which he has turned his attention. The result was/is an original notion of citizenship, different from those that dominate the conceptual landscape, such as liberal, republican and cosmopolitan citizenship. Ecological citizenship is a particular inflection of what Dobson calls ‘post-cosmopolitan’ citizenship. Its defining characteristics are 1: non-territoriality – i.e. the obligations of the ecological citizen transcend national boundaries, 2: taking responsibility for the size of one’s ecological footprint is a key duty for the environmental citizen, 3: the obligations of ecological citizenship are not owed reciprocally, 4: the principal virtue of ecological citizenship is justice and 5: the obligation of the ecological citizen is to reduce the size of one’s ecological footprint where appropriate, in the name of a just distribution of ecological space. 3. References to the research Dobson, A. (2000) ‘Ecological Citizenship: a disruptive influence?’, in C Pierson and S Tormey (eds), Politics at the Edge: The PSA Yearbook 1999. London, Macmillan.


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Dobson, A. (2003) Citizenship and the Environment. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Dobson, A. (2007) Green Political Thought (4th edition), Routledge, London. 1st edition 1990/2nd 1995/3rd 2000. Dobson, A. (2009) ‘All I left behind;; The mainstreaming of ecologism’, Contemporary Political Theory, vol. 8, 319-328. DOI: 10.1057/cpt.2009.11 Dobson, A. (2012) ‘Ecological Citizenship Revisited’, in Handbook Of Global Environmental Politics. (2nd ed.). Cheltenham, UK, and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Evidence of Quality: The journal, yearbook and handbook articles were subject to anonymous peer review; Both monographs have been cited very extensively. Professor Dobson was employed at Keele 1987-December 2001, and April 2006-present. All publications were written or substantially prepared/researched at Keele, including (2003). 4. Details of the impact The two areas of impact referred to in (1) correspond almost exactly to the two fields of underpinning research described in (2). Thus the work on ecologism informs the impact on campaigns for social, economic and political change, while the research on ecological citizenship underpins the development of citizenship-based policies for encouraging pro-environmental behaviour. Inevitably there is overlap between these two strands of research and the corresponding impact. (1) Impact based on research on ecologism has been achieved through engagement with national political organisations. This takes two principal forms: (a) Dobson’s role as a lead writer on the 2010 Green Party Manifesto, and (b) his role as a founder-member of the Green House think tank. (a) In relation to the 2010 Green Party Manifesto, the Green Party parliamentary office attests that: ‘The manifesto is a statement of the Party's discourse and its political project as well as its policy proposals and Andrew Dobson was asked to write it because the Green Party was confident in his ability to frame this project based on knowledge of his previous published research and its deep influence on their activists' [source 1]. Dobson’s role was to set the order and tone and to write the main text. It draws on Dobson’s research on the relationship between citizenship and sustainability: ‘As citizens we think of the good of everyone and of the future, and not just what we think is good for ourselves, now. Creating a fair and sustainable society is a job for government at all levels – but it is also a job for us as citizens’ (Green Party 2010, pp. 28-9), and, ‘We would initiate a revolution in trust…The Green Party will trust citizens and workers, not over-regulate them’ (p.29). Dobson discussed the text in various face-to-face and online forums and it went through a number of iterations until the final version was ready for use in the 2010 General Election campaign. The manifesto launch was reported across the national print and broadcast media, including by the BBC and Channel 4 News (April 15th 2010). It was central to the Green Party’s campaign for the General Election 2010, the Local Elections in 2011, and the European Parliament Elections in 2013. 264,243 people voted for the Green Party in the General election 2010, with the party gaining its first parliamentary seat (Brighton Pavilion) in the election, 130 Green Party seats on 43 Principal Authorities were won in the 2011 Local Election, and two Green European Members of Parliament were elected in May 2013. A Green Party Policy Co-ordinator has confirmed the continuing significance of the manifesto, stating that it is still very much a live document, available on the Party website, that he refers to on a daily basis, and that he directs those with policy enquiries to it. (b) Discussions after the 2010 General Election led to the creation of the Green House think tank of which Dobson is a founder member. The significance of Green House to the policy environment is indicated by the reporting of its launch by the Government Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), where Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas was quoted as saying that


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Green House was an important step in bringing Green politics into the mainstream (see DEFRA 2011). Dobson wrote Green House’s first report, ‘Sustainability Citizenship’ (2011) (downloaded 1,112 times by 10 October 2013), and he was a key organiser and speaker at a major Green House conference on the ‘Future of Green Politics’ on 13 October 2012, attended by over 100 people. 2) The impact of Professor Dobson’s research on environmental citizenship is evident through the attention given to his ideas by a number of public organizations. Dobson’s work on environmental citizenship suggests a strategy based on people’s capacity for co-operative, other-regarding behaviour. This is an alternative to current Government policy for encouraging pro-environment behaviour, which is dominated by fiscal incentives/disincentives such as congestion charges and fines for rubbish. This policy is preferred by Government because evidence suggests that it works, in the short-term at least, and because it flows from the standard economic behavioural view that people are motivated by self-interest. However, there is increasing empirical evidence, some of which is based on Professor Dobson’s work, which suggests that people do indeed have the capacity to act as ‘environmental citizens’, and that this should be reflected in policy design. (a) In the light of this, Professor Dobson was asked by the Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN, which is funded by DEFRA, and of which Professor Dobson was a member from its founding until 2012) to conduct a systematic review of the environmental citizenship evidence. The review was published in November 2010. It argued that environmental citizenship should be regarded by government as a legitimate and effective policy tool for pro-sustainability behaviour change, along with more established approaches based on financial incentives and behavioural economics (‘nudge’). The report and briefing was distributed via the SDRN mailing, reaching over 2,500 members of the network representing those with a policy or research interest in sustainable development. It also went out via SD Scene, which goes to about 25,000 policymakers across government. The launch event in November 2010 was attended by members of the policy community, and the report was the subject of the closing plenary of the SDRN’s annual conference in December 2010, with DEFRA’s chief social scientist giving a keynote response. The annual conference attracted 150 policy makers from across government and the voluntary/third sector. One Natural England social science specialist gives an indication of the report’s impact by saying: ‘Your review and conceptualisation on “environmental citizenship” have informed our understanding and thinking in relation to behavioural social science and the economics of incentives…particularly useful – for instance in relation to thinking around how a landscape-scale or group based agri-environment option might best be designed. The work also helpfully informs how NE can best engage in partnership working with stakeholders and communities’. (b) Following the publication of Dobson’s review by the SDRN, he was asked by the Development Education Association charity Think Global to join a House of Lords roundtable discussion on ‘Nudge’ and changing environmental behaviour. A Think Global executive comments that Dobson’s document ‘was on the Think Global and Involve websites and widely circulated to policy thinkers and influencers. There is obviously a big discussion about behaviour change, and … the note was part of this debate’. Dobson’s SDRN review, and his presentation at the roundtable event, led to other invitations and references to his work. For instance, Ofgem invited Dobson to give a presentation to their senior management, one member of which commented, ‘I felt that your presentation on environmental citizenship was very relevant to some of the issues we are thinking about in Ofgem’. Dobson’s work was quoted in a Fabian Society report ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Consumption: What Do the Public Think Is Fair’, and he was listed as one of several experts they consulted. Dobson’s review is also cited in the final report of the ‘Fishing for the Markets’ evaluation to DEFRA in April 2011: ‘Evidence shows that fiscal incentives may not be as important as we think they are and that people will choose to purchase a product that is environmentally sustainable as they perceive there is some common good in doing so’ (Evaluation Strategies Matrix, 2011, p. 11). Dobson’s research on environmental citizenship challenges the currently dominant assumptions that govern most public policy in this area, and the repeated invitations and citations referred to


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above are indicative of the impact this work has had. 5. Sources to corroborate the impact

1. Green Party Parliamentary Office. 2. Policy Co-ordinator, Green Party of England and Wales. 3. The Green Party Manifesto 2010:

http://greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/resources/Manifesto_web_file.pdf. 4. DEFRA, Sustainable Development in Government, Sustainable Development Scene,

‘Green House: A New Think Tank’, 25th July 2011: http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2011/07/green-house-a-new-green-think-tank/

5. Dobson, A. (2011) Sustainability Citizenship, published by Green House Think Tank: http://www.greenhousethinktank.org/files/greenhouse/private/Sustainability_Citizenship_inside.pdf

6. Natural England. 7. Sustainable Development Research Network (DEFRA): Dobson’s report on ‘Environmental

Citizenship’: http://www.sd-research.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sdrn_environmentalcitizenshipreview_formatted_final.pdf

8. Think Global. 9. Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN/DEFRA). 10. Fabian Society (2011) ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Consumption: What do the public

think is fair?’ http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/sustainability-attitudes-fairness-full.pdf .

11. Fishing for the Markets (2011) Evaluation Strategies. Funded by and produced for DEFRA: http://www.fishingforthemarkets.com/results.html

http://greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/resources/Manifesto_web_file.pdf

http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2011/07/green-house-a-new-green-think-tank/

http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2011/07/green-house-a-new-green-think-tank/

http://www.greenhousethinktank.org/files/greenhouse/private/Sustainability_Citizenship_inside.pdf

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Institution: Keele University Unit of Assessment: C21 Politics and International Studies Title of case study: International Human Rights: hate speech, minority rights, racial discrimination and indigenous peoples 1. Summary of the impact Patrick Thornberry’s research on human rights, particularly regarding international standards on racial (including caste) discrimination, minority rights, rights of indigenous peoples, and hate speech, has (1) influenced the development of legal principle through advice on policy and participation in the authorship of international standards, particularly those of the United Nations; (2) influenced the development of national legislation and practice including legislation in the UK; (3) facilitated the human rights work of international and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to defend the rights of minority, indigenous and caste communities. 2. Underpinning research Dates: Professor Patrick Thornberry was employed at Keele University from 1990-2010 (when he became Emeritus Professor). He has carried out research on minority rights throughout his career. The principal insights and findings from research between 1993 and 2010 are in the following areas: (a) On minority rights: Thornberry demonstrated that their expression had been largely

subsumed under international standards on discrimination, which, while functioning as starting points for protection of cultural, religious and linguistic identity, lacked appropriate indicators for the expression of identities. He suggested that lacunae were particularly evident in minority education and language, on recognition of the status and membership of minorities, and on the participation of minorities in decisions affecting them, and analysed key principles and instruments to move the discourse forward (references 1 & 5). This accounted for the relationship between specific principles and general international law, and apparatuses for the implementation of rights. His approach aimed to facilitate understanding the status and role of minority rights in the corpus of international standards on human rights.

(b) On racial discrimination: his research concentrated on exploring the concept and grounds of discrimination, the aims and objectives of international standards, affirmative action, the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and the integration of discrimination standards with those on minorities and indigenous peoples (references 4 & 6). Research findings clustered around the relationship between anti-discrimination and equality standards and the norms embodying freedoms, including cultural and speech freedoms, the lack of attention to the rights of particularly vulnerable groups, including caste groups, and dilemmas over collective rights in contexts animated by individualist paradigms.

(c) On indigenous peoples: Thornberry researched extensively into the place of indigenous peoples in the history of international law, understandings of ‘indigenousness’, the applicability of general and specific norms to advance their interests, self-determination, and standards on lands, territories and defence of indigenous cultures (references 2 & 4). The research highlights the stresses under which indigenous peoples endeavour to survive and defend their cultures. These necessitate urgent action to adopt and implement existing standards of human rights as well as broadening of paradigms to accommodate indigenous world-views.

(d) On hate speech, his research has focused on moves to proscribe ‘defamation of religions’, in light of events such as those following publication of ‘The Satanic Verses’, and the ‘Danish cartoons’. He concluded that proscribing ‘incitement to hatred’ fitted into networks of human rights standards less equivocally than proscribing ’defamation of religions’, but that it was not always easy to distinguish attacks on believers from attacks on doctrine. He cautioned that readings of freedom of expression should recognise that the boundaries of speech acceptability vary among nations and cultures and that international standards should take this into account (reference 6).


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In practice there is overlap and convergence between the above four areas, as is evidenced in Thornberry’s published research. 3. References to the research 1. Thornberry, P. (1995) ‘The Rights of Minorities’, in D. Harris and S. Joseph (eds.), The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and United Kingdom Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.597-627. 2. Thornberry, P. (2002) Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 484 pp. 3. Thornberry, P. (2005) ‘Combating Racial Discrimination: A CERD Perspective’, Human Rights Law Review, 5, pp.239-69. DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngi015 4. Thornberry, P. (2005) ‘The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Indigenous Peoples and Descent-based Discrimination’, in J. Castellino and N. Walsh (eds.), International Law and Indigenous Peoples. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp.17-52. 5. Thornberry, P. and de Varennes, F. (2005) ‘Two chapters on education rights, and one on language rights’ in M. Weller (ed.), The Rights of Minorities: A commentary on the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 365-428. 6. Thornberry, P. (2010) ‘Forms of Hate Speech and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’, Religion and Human Rights, 5, pp. 97-117. DOI: 10.1163/187103210X528138 Evidence of quality: (3) and (6) were subject to the journals’ anonymous peer review systems. (2) was favourably reviewed, inter alia in: British Yearbook of International Law (2003) 74 (1): 457-458 and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2004. 4. Details of the impact Patrick Thornberry’s research has had significant impact on the development of international and national human rights law, and the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This is bound up with the public positions he has occupied since the 1990s, which in turn, has also informed his research. Thus, the insights of his research in the 1980s and 1990s led to the Chairmanship of the NGO Minority Rights Group International (1999-2002), followed by membership (2001-2014) of UN CERD (the monitoring body of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - ICERD). This was on the nomination of the UK government and confirmed by votes of the States parties to the Convention, most recently in 2010 when Professor Thornberry received 144 votes. He served as rapporteur (independent expert) for six years up to 2008 (with responsibility to prepare the annual report of CERD to the UN General Assembly); country rapporteur for 21 reporting States (9 States since 2008); chairman of the Early Warning and Urgent Action Group (2008-2010); and follow-up rapporteur on State party periodic reports (from 2012), in which he was responsible for monitoring progress made by States parties in implementing the recommendations of the Committee. Membership of CERD has been coterminous with additional UN advisory engagements and work with regional bodies such as the Council of Europe, and with NGOs and civil society groups. Professor Thornberry was the first rapporteur of the UN Forum on Minorities (2008), initiating the discussion and preparing the initial draft of the Forum’s Recommendations on Minority Education, which will influence governments worldwide. This stemmed from a request from the then UN Independent Expert on Minorities, specifically on account of Thornberry’s research on minority rights in the field of education (see Thornberry, 2005, above); this work is clearly reflected in the


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Recommendations of the Forum. The former President of the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on National Minorities (2006-10) comments: ‘no other academic I know has had such a positive influence at the UN on minority issues as Professor Patrick Thornberry.’ In addition, in his capacity as a former Chair of Minority Rights Group (MRG), Professor Thornberry has maintained a relationship with the Group. A spokesperson, writing on behalf of MRG, notes: ‘Patrick's research has most certainly had an influence on our work here at MRG. His books are standard texts for us in our promotion of minority and indigenous rights worldwide. Arguments at MRG on finer points of minority rights law can be definitively settled by reference to Thornberry.’ Professor Thornberry was primary or shared rapporteur/author of several General Recommendations (GRs) on racial discrimination. These include GR 29 on discrimination on the grounds of caste or descent (2002), GR 32 on special measures/affirmative action (2009), and GR 34 on discrimination against persons of African Descent (2011); the latter were informed by research developed from his publications in 2005. Regarding Thornberry’s work on the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a senior representative says: ‘While the work of CERD is a collective one, contributions made by individual experts are highly important to the overall results of the work of the Committee. In this regard, Professor Thornberry has effectively contributed to the jurisprudence of CERD by using his academic research, particularly on minorities and racial discrimination’. She highlights in particular his ‘crucial role in preparing initial drafts of General Recommendations’. These provide guidance to the governments of the 176 States parties to the convention and influence the work of civil society in those countries. ‘He was the key member of CERD involved in producing the Committee’s ground-breaking recommendations on caste or descent GR 29, 2002’ (spokesperson for Minority Rights Group). This remains ‘a major influence on UN and governmental approaches’ (President of the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on National Minorities). GR 29 has been extensively employed by Dalit and Buraku groups in advocacy strategies (for example the Dalit Solidarity Network’s 2011 report recommending implementation of GR 29 in the UK) and has also influenced legislative changes in the UK, where caste discrimination has recently been recognised as a form of racial discrimination. Thornberry’s earlier work in developing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ‘where he was the leading intellectual thinker’ (President of the Council of Europe, Advisory Committee on National Minorities, 2006-10) led to further research on indigenous education rights (reference 5, section 3) which informed the UN Expert Mechanism on Indigenous Rights and its ‘Advice’ to governments in 2009. Its impact has extended to indigenous NGOs. For example, his research was cited in a recent (2012) submission to CERD in support of the Sami people’s claim that self-identification principles were leading to the dilution of Sami identity in Finland: CERD agreed with the submission and changed its advice to the government. Sami organisations incorporated this advice into their lobbying of the Finnish government in order to defend their rights to land and culture. On hate speech, Professor Thornberry’s research has contributed to moving UN efforts on from ‘defamation of religions’ to addressing ‘incitement to hatred’. In 2011, following the publication of his article in Religion and Human Rights (reference 6 in section 3), CERD appointed him as co-rapporteur for the discussion on racist hate speech, which took place in 2012. The text of a general recommendation was presented to CERD in 2013 and was adopted as GR 35 on ‘combating racist hate speech’. Initial reaction suggests that the recommendation is being treated as a ground-breaking development and it is cited by a senior representative of the Rule of Law and Democracy section, UN OHCHR, as one of ‘numerous occasions [in which] Patrick Thornberry has been able to bring findings from his own research into the work of CERD and by so doing influenced its work positively.’ 5. Sources to corroborate the impact Corroborators: Chief of the Rule of Law and Democracy section (former UN CERD Secretary) UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (impact of Thornberry’s research on UN hate speech


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recommendation). Secretary of UN CERD (on contribution of research to work on CERD). Former UN Independent Expert on Minorities (impact of research on minorities and education to UN Forum on Minorities) Director, Minority Rights Group International (use of research by MRG) Independent human rights consultant, President of the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on National Minorities (2006-10) and former Director of Minority Rights Group (impact of research on minorities on UN and Council of Europe) United Nations documents (available on request or from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/CERDIndex.aspx): GR on Persons of African Descent: UN Document A/63/18, para. 554 On moving from ‘defamation of religions’ to addressing ‘incitement to hatred’: UN Document A/HRC/10/31/Add.3 (2009) ‘Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights’ – Report on Expert Seminar (Geneva, 2008) on “Freedom of expression and advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence”. For the UN Expert Mechanism on Indigenous Rights and its ‘Advice’ to governments in 2009: UN document A/HRC/12/33 ‘The UN Expert Mechanism Advice No. 1 on the right of indigenous peoples to education, annexed to the Study on lessons learned and challenges to achieve the implementation of the right of indigenous peoples to education For the 2012 discussion on racist hate speech: UN document A/67/18, p. 87, para. 62. For General Recommendation 35 on Combating Racist Hate Speech: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/CERDIndex.aspx (General Comments) Other sources: For the UN Forum on Minorities 2008: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Minority/Pages/ForumIndex.aspx On the Dalit Solidarity Network’s recommendation to implement GR 29 in the UK: Dalit Solidarity Network (2011) Caste Based Discrimination in the United Kingdom On the UK ban on caste discrimination: International Dalit Solidarity Network News, ‘Britain Bans Caste Discrimination’, 24th April 2013: http://idsn.org/news-resources/idsn-news/read/article/britain-bans-caste-discrimination/128/ For the Sami self-identification case: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CERD%2FC%2FFIN%2FCO%2F20-22&Lang=en (Sami Council_ alongside ‘Finland’ The concluding observations of the Committee (CERD/C/FIN/CO/20-22, para. 12).

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Institution: Keele University Unit of Assessment: Politics and International Studies a. Overview Researchers in Politics and International Studies are located in the School of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and Environment (SPIRE), which has its own Research Centre (RC-SPIRE), which in turn is managed by the interdisciplinary Research Institute for Social Sciences (RISS). The RISS is responsible for stimulating and supporting research, enterprise and knowledge transfer activities, and for the training, supervision and support of research students. A Faculty Research Committee oversees research strategy, approves applications for research leave, and monitors reports on leave. The University Research Committee has overall responsibility for research matters while central Research and Enterprise Services provides relevant legal and financial expertise. b. Research strategy Research in Politics and International Studies at Keele is largely based on four research clusters in SPIRE:

x The Centre for Research on Environmental Action and Thought (CREATe)

x Centre for Comparative Politics and Policy

x Emerging Securities Unit (ESU)

x Political Theory (within the Forum for Philosophical Research)

These clusters represent the areas of strongest collaboration; by basing our strategy on them we support individual and collective research agendas, balancing responsiveness to current issues with an understanding of long-term factors that shape politics and international relations. All members belong to at least one group, and cross-group contributions are encouraged. This member-led structure provides a cohesive framework for fostering collaboration and maximising impact. As a research-led institution, Keele’s strategy is to ‘deliver international excellence and impact in focused areas of research’ (Keele Strategic Plan). The four research clusters enable focus, whilst the Research Centre encourages a collective vision within which staff are encouraged to pursue research on issues of fundamental political significance. Since 2008, SPIRE has produced significant contributions to the understanding of: climate change politics (Doyle and MacGregor); the conceptual relationship between feminism and multiculturalism (Mookherjee); listening in democratic theory (Dobson); the concept of toleration (Horton); explaining support for right-wing extremism (Carter and Luther); the politics of blame avoidance (Catney); the internal politics of a major international non-governmental organisation (Doherty and Doyle); policing in the international (liberal) order (Ryan); British nuclear policy in historical perspective (Parr); strategies of US Presidents (Herbert); and the Europeanization of political parties (Ladrech). Research on these issues is a product of our long-term commitment to the development of particular groups of specialist expertise and is reflected in the continuity of our areas of thematic priority since 2008. Thus, in the 2008 RAE we identified plans to build on Keele’s longstanding reputation for research on environmental politics through ties with external bodies and through multidisciplinary collaborations within Keele. Both have been realised through successful grant applications and on-going research on environmental thought and action. Researchers in CREATe have worked on environmental activism (Doyle, Doherty, and MacGregor), the actions of governments and business (Catney, Vogler), and green political thought (Dobson and MacGregor). New projects under development include MacGregor’s investigation of environmentalism and feminist theory, Doyle’s on environmentalism in authoritarian

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http://www.keele.ac.uk/risocsci/researchcentres/rc4spire/philosophy/


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regimes, and Doherty’s on criminal prosecutions of environmental activists. In its strategic plan the University has identified sustainability as one of its overarching institutional priorities and through these and other projects, the CREATe research cluster is central to delivering this. Work on comparative politics and policy continues to build on established strengths in the study of political parties in Europe. Through ties established by the Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) with scholars in Europe, Carter, Ladrech and Luther have carried out projects on Europeanization and explanations for support of right-wing extremism. This is paralleled by inquiries into governmental institutions, such as Catney’s ESRC-funded project on multi-level governance, and Herbert’s work on the US Presidency. The Emerging Securities Unit (ESU), formed in 2009, reflects the interests of International Relations scholars in SPIRE in moving beyond traditional concepts to examine security in relation to spaces, histories, values and the aesthetics of war. This has led to work theorising post-conflict policing (Ryan); re-conceptualising human and environmental security in the Indian Ocean region (Doyle); and Parr’s British Academy-funded project recovering the social history and political legacy of the Falklands war. This is complemented by Benwell’s study of the implications of the Falklands war for understanding the nationalism of the young, and Åhäll’s analysis of the role of gender in representations of warfare. The inter-disciplinary character of the School facilitates productive overlaps between research in political theory and philosophy, with several staff working across the two disciplines grouped as a cluster within the Forum for Philosophical Research. For instance, Baiasu is submitted under philosophy but co-ordinates the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Kantian Political Thought standing group. Those whose primary work is in political theory are fundamentally concerned with the intersection of normative concerns and major issues in contemporary society, such as the democratic deficit (Dobson), multiculturalism and toleration (Mookherjee, Horton), political legitimacy and obligation (Horton), and new aspects of feminist theory (MacGregor, Mookherjee). The sustainability of our research culture is secured by encouraging cross-fertilization between the SPIRE research clusters and collaboration with other disciplines at Keele. Examples include: links between the environment and comparative politics and policy groups through Ladrech’s work on climate change and political parties; Doherty’s comparative work on environmental protest in Britain and France; and Catney’s work on bureaucracy, contaminated land, and welfare and environmentalism. In addition, Doyle’s work on environmental security and Dobson’s work on biosecurity connects CREATe and the ESU, while Dobson and MacGregor are active in both CREATe and the political theory cluster. All four clusters collaborate with other disciplines at Keele - notably Geography, Criminology and History (with the ESU); Philosophy (with Political Theory); Social Policy (with Comparative Politics) and the Natural Sciences (with CREATe) in joint seminars, and through cross-Faculty events (see section e). Our internal seminar series, at which all research-active staff normally present one paper per year, ensures that colleagues across the four clusters are familiar with research across the School. Work–in-progress seminars in the clusters enable PGRs to present their research to each other and to staff, and provide feedback on draft work, while internal reading groups also help to encourage inter-disciplinary thinking and collaborations. These and other measures developed during the current REF period are intended to ensure that we produce the best possible research. For instance, staff are required to detail their anticipated research activity for the coming year, as well as to identify longer-term research strategy in annual Research Plans. These are reviewed by the Head of RC-SPIRE and the Director of the RISS, and used to: a) develop individual career research agendas; b) manage individuals’ plans for research leave; and c) to identify collaborative research initiatives within clusters, the Centre and across the University. A central element in our research strategy is to increase grant income through targeted support for applications. All significant funding applications are subject to rigorous internal peer review; all bids are assessed by Faculty Research Office staff, the Head of the Research Centre,


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the Social Sciences Research Institute Director, and within SPIRE. Since 2008, this structure has been effective in helping researchers to produce high quality research outputs, secure significant grant income and fulfil Keele’s strategic aim of expanding postgraduate research numbers. For the next five years our strategic aims are: (a) to build on the four main areas of research strength. We do not envisage that these will change, and new initiatives are already underway in each of the clusters including externally funded projects (e.g. Ladrech’s ESRC-funded project on European Parties and Climate Change Policy, and an EU Marie Curie Fellowship for Demiray for two years from September 2013 to work on Kantian Political ideas, which is linked to the ECPR Standing Group on Kantian Politics); (b) to facilitate further cross-cutting research and inter-disciplinary research when appropriate, linked to the university’s strategic priorities. Keele’s commitment to sustainability as a major strategic aim, developed in this REF period, offers further opportunities for future collaboration within the university and with other partners; and (c) further expansion of PGR numbers (see section c). c. People, including:

i. Staffing strategy and staff development

SPIRE provides a research environment that supports and develops researchers at all stages of their careers. The period since 2008 has been one of consolidation rather than expansion of staff numbers. However, new appointments were made in the area of Emerging Securities, Ryan (2009) and Åhäll (2012), which sustained capacity in that area after the departure of Lobo-Guerrero in 2012. This group of mainly early-career staff has also been supported strategically with eight PGR studentships since 2009. The Faculty has also made a significant investment in research through sponsoring applications for Leverhulme early-career fellowships: following an open competition, Benwell was successful in 2012, in part due to the synergy between his work and Parr’s on the Falklands. Emeritus staff continue to be involved in our research activity, including mentoring their colleagues (O’Kane and Thornberry), contributing to the vitality of SPIRE’s research culture. Encouraging internationally recognised excellence in research is a key principle of staff appointments, career development and academic promotions, as evidenced by promotions since 2008. Five of the eight staff who were promoted to Senior Lectureships were early career in the last RAE: Carter, Catney, MacGregor, Parr and Lobo-Guerrero. Ladrech and Luther were promoted to internal Professorships. Mookherjee (AHRC), Newey (Collegium of Helsinki), Dobson and Lobo-Guerrero (both Leverhulme) all held prestigious Research Fellowships during this period (Lobo-Guerrero and Newey subsequently gained Chairs abroad).

The University allocates research time through its workload model. In addition, the Faculty provides regular research leave (one semester in eight) for all staff who meet criteria of excellence. Early career staff are allocated additional research time and may apply for research leave sooner than the norm. They are further supported through the appointment of a mentor, who advises on research, and the induction programme provided by the Faculty Research Office. Staff are required to undergo training before supervising research students, and to take a course in Managing a Research Award if they have a grant involving responsibility for finance and staff supervision. All research involving human participants must be approved by the University’s Ethical Review Panels. Research and Enterprise Services and the Faculty Research Office offer guidance throughout this process, and have helped to facilitate research on ethically sensitive subjects, such as the experience of veterans from the Falklands war and activists involved in illegal protests. Policies relating to research management are subject to equality impact assessment; all members of appointing committees and staff who carry out appraisals are trained in equality and diversity issues. Keele has recently obtained the European Commission’s Human Resources Excellence in Research Award. Part-time staff receive research support and access to leave on the same basis (pro-rata) as full-time staff. For example, a member of staff who was early-career in the last RAE chose to return to work part-time for a defined period following maternity leave. Support in maintaining her research career was provided through research leave plus support for a successful


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grant application: she was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer. Two staff members included in this submission are employed on part-time contracts; 40% (FTE) of staff submitted are women (compared to 27% representation in the discipline nationally in 2007 [Randall 2012]), as are four of eight staff promoted to Senior Lectureships since 2008. The careers of the five fixed-term Research Associates employed in the current REF period have been supported in line with the principles outlined in the Vitae Concordat for Researchers (2011); all have gone on to secure further employment in lecturing or research posts.

ii. Research students

We provide an environment in which postgraduate research students can develop their careers through: first-class facilities; appropriate research training; high quality supervision; and support for publication, conference presentations, and teaching. The University has invested its own resources to establish a competitive studentship scheme, which has been very successful in expanding PGR recruitment. Thus, despite the loss of ESRC funding following the decision not to support Doctoral Training Units, the number of PhD students has increased significantly since 2008: there are 2.6 FTE students per member of staff submitted (currently forty-one students registered in total). SPIRE applicants have been particularly successful in Keele’s studentship competition, reflecting our strong international reputation and the support that prospective supervisors give applicants. 17 full and 5 part studentships were awarded to PGRs in Politics and International Studies between 2008 and 2013. The recruitment, supervision, training, and examination of PGRs is governed by the regularly reviewed and updated University Code of Practice on Postgraduate Research Degrees, while formal progression and examination matters are approved by the Research Degrees Committee. Policy at University level is the responsibility of the University Postgraduate Research Committee working in collaboration with the University Research Student Liaison Committee. Within the Faculty, there is a PGR committee for Social Sciences (consisting of the PGR Director, Associate Directors for each Research Centre, and student representation) which establishes policies for training and support, approves supervisory and examination arrangements, monitors progress, and administers funds for training and research. Together, these bodies ensure that the academic and pastoral needs of PGR students are fully met. Within SPIRE, the PGR Associate Director oversees admissions, supervision, and progression. All students have a lead and second supervisor, who help to identify training needs (underpinned by the RCUK/Vitae Researcher Development Framework) at an early stage. Training, together with general progress, is reviewed regularly through each student’s Personal Development and Learning Plan, and through formal six-monthly progression reports submitted to the PGR Committee. A formal independent doctoral progression process also takes place after ten to twelve months for full-time students. Research training is provided through generic (e.g. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Research Design) and more specific (e.g. Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods) modules, as well as through short courses and workshops on specific methods (e.g. NVivo) and career development (e.g. on public engagement and impact, conference presentation, publication strategies, and teaching). Funding is also used to facilitate student attendance at specialist, external training events, such as the Essex Summer Schools in Data Analysis, and to support research expenses and conference attendance. More informal research training and career development are further supported by the annual residential weekend in the Peak District that SPIRE runs for PGR students across the Social Sciences (which includes workshops on various stages of the PhD, and student presentations of their work in progress), and through paid short-term PGR employment opportunities including assisting in running conferences and summer schools, administrative work on journals, and small-scale fieldwork with academic staff. These support structures have had a clear impact on the career progression of our PGRs: of the 33 students who have completed their PhDs since August 2008, 24 have gained lectureships or post-doctoral research posts in the UK, USA, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, the UAE


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and Malaysia, and four have been appointed to senior research positions outside academia, such as Ercan Aslantas, who is now a Personal Advisor to the Minister for Internal Affairs in Ankara. d. Income, infrastructure and facilities

The Moser Research Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences is the central hub for the Faculty’s research. This new facility, built with HEFCE SRIF and University funding, was completed in 2008. It houses the Faculty Research Office (FRO), office space and facilities for research projects, offices for visiting scholars and postgraduate students, and meeting rooms. It underpins an efficient and flourishing inter-disciplinary research environment, with exceptional office and ICT facilities beyond Research Council minima for PGR students. Spending on PCs and other equipment specifically for PGRs in Politics and International Studies was £7,350 in 2012-13 with a further £6,500 allocated for 2013-14. In addition, £266,600 was spent on refurbishing the Faculty’s PGR space between 2011 and 2013 (from HEFCE and University funding). The allocation of office space and hot-desking facilities results from a systematic survey of student needs, with the Moser Building serving as a social and intellectual hub for PGRs with weekly social events and drop-in sessions. The Faculty Research Office provides expert guidance on funding opportunities, grant applications, and effective publicity, while further support on finance and administration is available to staff running research projects or organising seminars, workshops and conferences (including those organised by PGRs). As well as identifying funding opportunities, the FRO helps to ensure sustainability by encouraging inter-disciplinary collaboration, which is particularly important to sustainability and vitality in a small, broad-based university such as Keele. Research on environmental politics has benefitted from the opening of the Keele Hub for Sustainability in 2011. Located in what were previously derelict farm buildings renovated with a successful bid to the HEFCE Strategic Development Fund and additional funding from the Wolfson Foundation, the Hub provides a focus for research and teaching collaborations across Keele (including those between SPIRE and the Faculty of Natural Sciences) and has been an essential means for out-reach to the wider community and dissemination of the results of our environmental projects. The development of this extensive infrastructural support, as well as the concentration on research clusters and individual career development, has contributed to SPIRE researchers’ major grant successes since 2008. Research income per member of staff has more than doubled since RAE 2008. Major awards include: ‘Researching Energy Consumption Through Community Knowledge Networks’ (in collaboration with Keele natural scientists, RCUK); ‘Friends of the Earth International’ (ESRC, the results of which were graded ‘outstanding’ in the ESRC’s evaluation), and ‘Multi-level Governance, Europeanization and Urban Politics’ (ESRC). Published outputs from all of these projects are part of our submission to the REF. We have also had substantial success in various smaller, but often very competitive, funding schemes: three clusters have hosted ESRC Seminar Series: on ‘Biosecurity’ (CREATe with natural scientists from Keele and Birkbeck); 'Regenerating Medium-Sized Post-Industrial Cities' (Comparative Politics, with Keele Social Policy); and ‘Contemporary Biopolitical Security’ (Emerging Securities Unit). The British Academy has funded work on: ‘The Good Citizen’ (Political Theory); ‘Social Democratic Parties and Climate Change’ (Comparative Politics and CREATe); ‘Children’s Understanding of Peak Oil’ (Emerging Securities Unit, with Keele Social Policy); and the ‘Falklands War’ (Emerging Securities Unit). Such smaller grants act as important stepping stones to larger research projects such as Ladrech’s ESRC grant (with Carter, York) on ‘Climate Change and Political Parties’, which developed from a BA small grant; other projects arising from these smaller grants are under development. While much of the funding for SPIRE’s research activity has come from external funders, generous internal funds are available, particularly seed-corn funding, to develop research networks, and to facilitate debate and dissemination of research findings through seminars, conferences and workshops at Keele and elsewhere. This funding has led to subsequent success in gaining both small and larger grants. For example, Dobson, Catney and MacGregor developed ties with community groups prior to bidding successfully for their £425k RCUK grant.


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e. Collaboration or contribution to the discipline or research base Most of our major externally-funded research projects have involved collaboration with researchers from other disciplines or groups from outside academia. ‘Reducing Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge Networks’ was a SPIRE-led Keele collaboration with Physical and Geographical Sciences and the Marches Energy Agency (a leading regional third sector organization). The project compared communities with the aim of better understanding how information within communities circulates and is converted into knowledge and action. The research provides guidance relevant for the policy community on energy conservation, fuel poverty and the Green Deal. International collaboration with other research users has also made an important contribution to the research environment. For example, La Rocca was funded as a Practitioner Fellow from Friends of the Earth Australia in 2008, connected to the ESRC-funded project on Friends of the Earth International. The innovative engagement of Practitioner Fellows and support they received was commended in evaluations of this project and of the ESRC Non-Governmental Action Programme as a whole. All three ESRC Seminar Series hosted by SPIRE since 2008 have been interdisciplinary in their design and reach. ‘The Socio-Politics of Biosecuity. Science, Policy and Practice’, which examined the management of perceived dangerous biological mobility and exchange, was led by Dobson, working with Taylor (Biology, Keele) and Barker (Geography, Birkbeck) and included contributors from anthropology, political theory, ecology, geography and environmental management, who worked together to produce a joint publication that defines biosecurity as a form of governance through a range of scientific and knowledge practices (Dobson et al, 2013). ‘The Biopolitics of Security’ (ESU) also examined governance, through a focus on the implications for theories of power when life itself is the subject of power. Participants included historians and geographers alongside scholars of international relations and politics: keynote speakers at the four seminars at Keele came from the Universities of Ottawa, Sydney, Amsterdam and the Peace Research Institute Oslo. A key outcome of the series was the establishment of an ongoing international research network on this topic (www.keele.ac.uk/bos) involving 110 leading scholars in the field, which is hosted by the ESU. ‘Regenerating Medium-sized Cities’, organised by the Centre for Comparative Politics and Policy (with Social Policy), drew together researchers from political science, sociology, geography and urban planning, as well as think-tank representatives and regeneration practitioners to examine the complex socio-economic and political challenges confronting medium-sized cities across Western states. This project has been sustained through the creation of an inter-disciplinary Keele Urban Research Network which will provide the basis for future joint research at Keele between SPIRE social policy and criminology. In addition, SPIRE hosted other major conferences, including ‘Epistemologies of the Political, the Global and the International’ (2011, ESU co-hosted by the British International Studies Association (BISA) Poststructuralist Working Group); ‘Examining the Extreme Right in the Local Political Arena’, organised by the Comparative Politics group (2011). the 10th Annual Aberystwyth-Lancaster Graduate Colloquium (2012); ‘Toleration and Pragmatism: themes from the work of John Horton’ (2012), the papers from which are to be published in Philosophia and a conference investigating the meaning of ‘Britishness’ (2013) organised by the Political Theory group with colleagues from Social Policy, which featured on Radio 4’s ‘Thinking Allowed’. Developing links with Turkey have led to a seminar series on Modern Turkey co-organised with the Center for Strategic Research of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which funds six academic seminars per year at Keele. We make an important contribution to capacity building in the discipline through our international networks, particularly though our role in co-ordination of ECPR Standing Groups, convening four groups, more than any other ECPR member institution: Environmental Politics and Policy (306 members), co-ordinated by Doherty and MacGregor; Extremism and Democracy (308 members), co-ordinated by Carter; Kantian Political Thought (120 Members), co-ordinated by Baiasu (Philosophy); and Political Parties (204 members), co-ordinated by Luther. Our role in the standing groups enables us to work internationally with numerous colleagues and raises Keele’s profile

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through our work in convening sections and approving panels and workshops at ECPR events. For example, at the Bordeaux 2013 General Conference, over seventy papers were presented in the Sections convened by SPIRE staff, and the papers from a workshop that Ladrech co-ordinated at the 2010 Joint Sessions in Munster were published as a symposium in a 2012 issue of West European Politics. We have also contributed to developing future generations of politics scholars by organising Environmental Politics and Policy Summer Schools for PhD students in 2008, 2010 and 2013, sixty-one students from eleven countries participated in total. Luther has contributed to or co-convened three summer schools for the ECPR Standing Group on Political Parties since 2008. The Keele European Parties Research Unit also hosted a European Network for the Analysis of Political Text workshop for eighteen PhD and early career researchers on methodologies for analysing party manifestos (2009). Staff have held other posts in national and international organisations within the discipline: Vogler was Convenor of the BISA Environment Specialist Group until 2013; Ladrech was elected to the Executive of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies in 2013; Lloyd was on the Executive Council of the International Studies Association 2009 -2010, and is on the standing committee of the British International History Group; Doyle is a member of the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee 15 on ‘Political and Cultural Geography’ for 2012-2014. Since 2008, SPIRE has hosted visiting academics from Argentina, Australia, China, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, Turkey and the USA for periods from several weeks to six months. Close working relations in the field of environmental politics led to the appointment of Meadowcroft (Carleton), Schlosberg (Sydney), and Wissenburg (Nijmegen) as Visiting Professors. Four SPIRE staff served as Visiting Professors in this period at the Universities of Chiba, Japan (Dobson); The College of Europe, Bruges (Ladrech); Hamburg (Lobo-Guerrero); and Vienna (Luther). In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the study of Austrian Politics, Luther was awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art (April 2009) by the Austrian government. Carter’s article with Poguntke won a prize for best article in West European Politics in 2010, and Horton’s work was the subject of a special conference in Gdansk, Poland in 2010. MacGregor has been awarded a prestigious fellowship by the Rachel Carson Centre, University of Munich for six months in 2014 to work on a monograph exploring feminist theory and environmental politics. Doyle’s joint appointment with Adelaide enables synchronicities between the Keele Emerging Securities Unit, CREATe, and the new Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Adelaide (Doyle is Director), funded by a major Australian Research Council grant. Doyle and MacGregor have completed a major edited work on environmental activism (2013) with the widest existing coverage (contributors from twenty-four countries) of environmental movements to date; Doyle worked with Doherty on the ESRC-funded project on Friends of the Earth International; and staff participated at a major international conference of academics and policy-makers on climate change and security in Hyderabad, co-organised by Doyle in 2010. Staff contribute to the discipline through work as reviewers for publishers, funding bodies (the ESRC Peer Review College, other UK funders, and overseas national research councils), and as editors of academic journals and book series. Journal editorships include: Environmental Politics (MacGregor); Social Movement Studies (Doherty, to 2013); Politics, Religion and Ideology (Sheikh); and the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region (Doyle). Book Series editorships include: Introductions to Environment and Society (Doyle: Routledge, 2011-); Transforming Environmental Politics and Policy (Catney and Doyle: Ashgate, 2009-); Revolutionary Lives (Doherty: Pluto Press, 2009-13); Key Studies in Diplomacy (Lloyd: Continuum, 2011-). Lloyd is on the International Relations Standing Board of the Oxford Bibliographies series, which won a 2012 PROSE award from the Association of American Publishers. In addition, eight staff are members of the editorial boards of academic journals.

Keele University - Home · 2019-09-12 · situation in Syria in 2013. This is complemented by SPIRE’s support for the externally-oriented World Affairs Programme, which has over

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