Government and governance
This theme focuses on the structures and processes of government within the UK and Europe. It examines how governments operate, make decisions, and implement policies, as well as issues related to political institutions, public administration, and the rule of law.
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Dr Mustafa Demir
Associate Fellow
Biography
Dr Mustafa Demir is a Research Fellow in International Politics and teaches Politics and Sociology at the International Study Centre, University of Surrey.
With over ten years of experience, his research focuses on international relations, political sociology, and energy geopolitics. He has published extensively, including numerous peer-reviewed articles in Q1 journals and several books.
His recent work addresses authoritarianism, populism, securitisation, religion in populiost politics and the intersection of energy and geopolitics, particularly focusing on the European Union and its foreign policy. As a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), he has taught modules such as Conflict Analysis, Political Sociology, International Security; and Global Political Economy.
Professor Theofanis Exadaktylos
Professor in European Politics
Biography
Dr. Theofanis Exadaktylos is Professor in European Politics.
He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Exeter. His doctoral thesis was on the Europeanization of national foreign policies of the member states with particular focus on Greece and Germany. He holds an MSc. in European Political Economy: Integration from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Economics and International Relations (Europe and the former USSR) from Tufts University.
Previous work includes issues of real and nominal convergence in the least affluent countries of the Union, the political economy of transition and enlargement, the political economy of Southeastern Europe: democratization and Europeanization.
Dr Simona Guerra
Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics
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.
Dr Alia Middleton
Senior Lecturer in Politics, Co-Director of The Centre for Britain and Europe (CBE) and Undergraduate Admissions Tutor
See profile
Dr Roula Nezi
Senior Lecturer in Political Science
Biography
I am Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Surrey. My research examines developments in public opinion and political attitudes, political parties and party systems, and electoral behaviour. I am also interested in survey methodology and quantitative methods. My academic work has been published in a wide range of Q1 journals.