Gender and identity

Biography

Dr Laura Chappell is Senior Lecturer in European Politics. She holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and an MA in European Studies also from the University of Birmingham. She is the author of Germany, Poland and the Common Security and Defence Policy. Converging Security and Defence Perspectives in an Enlarged EU (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and has published widely on different aspects of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, Polish and German defence policies as well as gender and European security. She is also co-editor of European Security. 

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Biography

I am an Associate Professor in Sociology, the Director of Learning and Teaching and Deputy Head of Department in Sociology. 

My dedication to excellence in Teaching and enhancing the student experience has been recognised by the University of Surrey. I was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teacher of the Year in 2023.     

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Biography

Since I was awarded my PhD (January 2009), I have established myself as a scholar and an expert in the field of Euroscepticism and European Studies. My dedication to high-quality and path-breaking research is demonstrated by my success in obtaining funded research grants (about 1,510,606.06 Euros).

This is supported by the numerous invited talks at the international level, by governmental/EU institutions, as keynote speaker/speaker at roundtables, as at the ECPR (with former Polish President and Nobel laureate Lech Wałęsa), UACES, and PSA. Further, at a rather junior stage I have become the first author of the chapter on public opinion and EU integration in the most used (OUP) textbook on the EU.

In 2013 I published my first monograph, with Palgrave, and co-edited a Special Issue of the Journal of Common Market Studies. Both were well received, among my publications, a book edited (and co-written) with a colleague (M. Caiani) on Euroscepticism, Democracy and The Media (Palgrave, European Sociology) (h 81), an articlepublished in the Journal of Communist and Postcommunist Studies (h 80), my monograph (h 50), and further articles on the Journal of Common Market Studies (h 29) and Perspectives on European Politics and Society (h 24) (see: Harzing, Publish or Perish 8.9).

I have also been the Co-Chief Editor of JCER, Journal of Contemporary European Research (2012-2017). While editor, it became a Q2 (SCImago) journal in 2014 (it was a Q3 journal in 2013, and Q4 in 2012, it had no previous ranking). I have just completed my office as founding Co-Chief Editor of the first GOA journal of the ECPR, Political Research Exchange (PRX) (2017-2023), that started publishing from 2019. Since then, PRX published five volumes with over 250,000 downloads across over 175 countries; in 2020 it was Indexed DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals; in 2021 Indexed by Scopus; Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index; in 2022 we recorded more than 50% submissions with female lead authors and in 2022, PRX achieved its first Impact Factor and Q1 Citescore, 2.4.

I was elected as a UACES Committee Member & Trustee in 2010 (2010–2013), and further co-opted till 2017. In 2021 I was elected as board member of the IPSA RC03 on European Unification, focusing on the study of European integration. My international visibility has resulted in my work as reviewer (for journals, publishers, British/international grant schemes - ESRC, Leverhulme, and in Belgium, Switzerland, Czechia, Poland, Croatia), examiner, research fellow, and visiting professor across Europe and at the EU institutions. 

I further hold several teaching awards, from students at the University of Nottingham, Loughborough University and the University of Leicester, as Best Personal Tutor, Best Lecturer, Best Support Staff, Best Practice in Inclusive Learning and Teaching, and Best Implementer of Students’ Feedback.

My current project is investigating the presence and work of the early women of the European Assembly (1952-1969) thanks to the interest and support from the European Parliament and internal funding (ESRC and A&H IAA grants) and working on the Oxford Handbook of Polish Politics (OUP) with Katarzyna Walecka and Fernando Casal Bertoa.

I am interested in supervising research projects examining the process of European integration, attitudes towards the European Union, or women in the early (1950s and 1960s) stages of the European integration process.

Previous visiting positions include: Unitelma La Sapienza in Rome (2014-15), University of Sussex (2015-16), London School of Economics (2017), University of Zagreb (2018), Carlos III, in Madrid (2019), International Chair at ULB (2022),Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges campus, 2020-22), and Visiting Chair at Sapienza University in Rome (2023).

Below my previous appointments:

• Visiting Professor, La Sapienza, Rome (May-June 2023);
• International Chair , ULB, Brussels (May-June 2022);
• Acting Head of School, University of Leicester (July 2018-January 2019);
• Deputy Head of School, University of Leicester (April 2017-August 2019);
• Associate Professor, University of Leicester (September 2016-June 2020);
• Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Leicester (April–September 2016);
• Associate Professor, 14/C3, by direct appointment of an Italian citizen currently working abroad, Scuola di Studi Internazionale and the Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, University of Trento (art. 15 comma 6, D.R.n.563, 29.10.2013), January 2016, declined;
• Lecturer in Politics, University of Leicester (May 2012-April 2016);
• Lecturer in Politics, Loughborough University (September 2010-May 2012);
• Teaching Fellow, University of Nottingham (September 2008-August 2010);
• Research Associate, Cardiff University (April-September 2008);
• Graduate Associate Tutor, Sussex European Institute, University of Sussex (January 2005-June 2007).

Further, I have been guest lecturer for the Politics Summer School jointly organized by Canterbury Christ Church University and the Centre International de Formation Européen; for the MYEULINK project at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus; and the MA in European Studies, at the Università of Siena.

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