The Department of Politics' diverse and vibrant research reflects our commitment to impact through a range of public engagement events, contribution to policy making, giving expert evidence and informing ongoing debate. Areas of particular focus include modern slavery and human trafficking, monitoring and influencing political changes in attitude in Northern Ireland, and the status and movements of refugees across Europe.
The Department places a particular emphasis upon supporting high impact research of wider societal benefit. This involves working with a wide range of organisations from political parties to anti-human trafficking agencies. High profile partners we have worked with include United Nations agencies, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, members of Houses of Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly, Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum, and Tate Liverpool.
Our department boosts researchers at the start of their career. Politics early career researchers (ECRs) reach policy makers in Whitehall, Brussels, and beyond. Through targeted research support, ECRs have won funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust, and the Global Challenges Research Fund.
Postgraduate researchers are at the forefront of our research endeavour. Research by politics PhD students has provided new insights into the 1980s miners’ strike and helped construct an innovative database to track private military companies.
As well as these impactful projects, the Department continues to support Early Career Researchers, with their numbers on our staff growing from 7 in 2014 to 27 in 2021. The Department has also been very successful in securing research income. Annual research income has grown by 74% to reach £407,197 in 2019-20.
Back to: Research Excellence Framework 2021