Our 28 research-active faculty members have produced more than 30 books and hundreds of articles and chapters in recent years. The School was top-rated (24 out of 24) in the recent Teaching Quality Assessment exercise and was third equal in the UK for teaching politics in the 2008 National Student Survey. Our PhD and MA programmes provide dedicated high quality research training across the methods of political, social and international studies.

Research degrees

We welcome applications for research degrees at three levels: Master by Research, MPhil and PhD. Admission to the MPhil/PhD programme is normally on the basis of at least a good 4-year degree (for example, a BA Honours degree plus a taught MA degree). The School provides financial support for conference visits and research fieldwork, and there is a regular research seminar at which students present their research and receive advice on various aspects of researching, writing and submitting a PhD thesis.

“The School provides a very stimulating environment for new researchers. It is challenging but always supportive and people are always ready to discuss and debate your ideas and offer you an alternative perspective. There's a very collegiate atmosphere which makes this a great place to be studying.”

Nicholas Wright, PhD candidate, 2010

Research and supervision

Staff and graduate students in the School pursue research in three broad areas: media and culture, international relations, and political behavior and theory. All work is organised around a single general theme: the relationship between culture, ideas and policy. This theme is addressed through interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches, in which theory is linked to practice, and which emerges in a distinctive programme of research for which it is receiving national and international recognition.

Staff have a strong international reputation for research in a wide variety of areas. The range of research interests includes (but is not restricted to): American foreign policy, Asia-Pacific politics (including Australia and the Southwest Pacific), British and Polish politics, citizens and consumers, conflict resolution and security studies, cultural politics, European studies, feminism, identity politics, international relations, mass media, new media, media history, political marketing, political and social theory, public administration and public policy, Russian politics, and US intellectual history.
List of areas of research supervision by staff member.

The research environment is also enhanced by regular research seminars, often with invited national or international speakers, as well as interdisciplinary workshops and conferences. Our research connects with work being done elsewhere in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, most notably in the Schools of Philosophy, History, and Film and Television Studies. It also connects us with the Social Science Faculty through the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy and with the Schools of Economics, Law and Nursing and Midwifery.

The School hosts 2 research centres, the Centre for Research in European Studies  and the Centre for Culture, Choice and Consumption. We also publish a Working Papers series.

“The excellent support from my supervisors and other staff helped me finish my PhD in less than three years….Having a PhD from the School was crucially decisive for getting a permanent position at my current university.”
Dr Geir K. Almlid

Enquiries and how to apply

The School welcomes research enquiries from prospective students. Please contact individual academics or Dr Alex Brown, the School’s Postgraduate Research Director, to discuss your proposal.

For admissions and general information contact the Graduate School Office:
Tel.: +44 (0)1603 591709; pgr.enquiries.admiss@uea.ac.uk  
How to apply
Studentships

PSI students participating in the UEA Postgraduate Showcase

Our 3 representatives were winners of a University-wide competition and presented their work in the city. (From left to right) Martin Scott working on media representations of the developing world, Hazel Marsh researching the role of music in Venezuelan politics and Luis Martino explaining the links between mass media and religion in Brazil.