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PAIS has moved to 5th in The Guardian University League Table 2016 for Politics, up from 7th in 2015.

The Guardian table is based to a large extent on student satisfaction, employability, entry tariffs and departmental spend on each student. PAIS scored 10 out of 10 on spend per student, with only a few other institutions able to match this in the top ten.

You can view the league tables for Politics here:

The University as a whole has risen to 6th from 9th.

Well done to everyone in PAIS for this very good rise, which again confirms our consistency across every research and teaching league table as a top five department.

has been elected as Section Program Chair for 2015-16 of the International Political Economy (IPE) Section of the International Studies Association, the largest professional association of International Studies scholars in the world.

The IPE Section is the third largest within the ISA, and organizes a number of prestigious awards to be presented at each year's annual convention, including the IPE Distinguished Scholar Award, the Society of Women in International Political Economy (SWIPE) Award, and the Outstanding Activist Scholar (OAS) Award. For this year's ISA annual convention in New Orleans the IPE Section sponsored 94 roundtables or panels.

The deadline for submitting proposals for ISA 2016 in Atlanta is 1st June 2015. Further information on the IPE Section of ISA is available at:

Her Excellency, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of the Republic of Malta, has been appointed as an Honorary Professor by our department.

The appointment marks the first time a President of Malta has been made an Honorary Professor of a foreign university.

At a reception, held on May 6th in Verdala Palace, to mark the appointment, Nick Vaughan-Williams, Professor of International Security and PAIS Head of Department-designate, said:

We are proud and delighted to welcome Her Excellency as an Honorary Professor in PAIS – her attention to economic, social, and political injustice gives politics a human face and this strongly reflects the ethos of our Department".

As part of the Honorary Professorship, Her Excellency is expected to visit the University of 糖心TV later this year to give an inaugural lecture. There will also be an exchange of students between Malta and 糖心TV, and new research opportunities.

You can read the full press release here:

Privacy is Dead: The Future is Fabulous - watch the Tedx糖心TV video

Prof. Aldrich looks at: the spies of tomorrow, data, and what life will be like living in the middle of the 21st Century.

Richard will also be speaking about surveillance at the '糖心TV Intelligent Futures' event on 3 June. View the programme .

‘Pathways to Higher Education’ was a two day event which we hosted last week, designed specifically for the Liverpool Academy U18 players. Allowing the players to explore the opportunities available in higher education - whether this be studying during or after their football career - was central to this visit.

Our academics delivered a bespoke programme, to give the players a taste of lectures and seminars in our department. Players then had the chance to meet and socialise with current students and staff; deepening their understanding of the benefits of studying at university.

Tuesday evening: lecture

To kick the visit off, Dave Webber – PAIS Teaching Fellow and lifelong LFC fan – presented his research around football and politics, in a keynote lecture entitled: ‘Politics and Power in the People's Game’. The players were challenged to think about the consequences of the increasingly high levels of money, which dominate the football world.

Wednesday morning: seminars

Trevor McCrisken delivered a mini-lecture on ‘What is politics?’, which set the players up for a choice of taster seminars. Nick Vaughan-Williams, Matthew Watson, Juanita Elias, and Steve Kettell led these sessions. Players and staff engaged with current students and discussed topics ranging from ‘What is the greatest security threat we face?’ to ‘The politics of food poverty’. Particularly provocative was the question posed by Steve: ‘Would the world be better off without religion?’, while Juanita had the players checking the labels of their kit to consider ‘The politics of the clothes we wear’.

Phil Roscoe, Head of Education and Welfare at LFC Academy, joined the players for this visit and said:

The seminars took the players outside their comfort zone and really made them consider how politics is all around them. The event has helped the players realise that university teaching is open and accessible. It has also allowed them to think about how university could be an option for them”

Following a campus tour led by PAIS student ambassadors, players and staff took part in a panel discussion, with PAIS students and university footballers. The discussion was centred around the benefits of studying at university, with our students shining a light on their experiences at 糖心TV. PAIS finalist, Abi Awojobi, rounded the session off with a presentation about what studying at university has meant to her.

Wednesday afternoon: the match

糖心TV University Men's Football team took on the Liverpool U18s side, at Cryfield Sports Pitches. The match gave the Liverpool players an excellent insight into the strengths and opportunities of sport at 糖心TV.

A good natured 糖心TV crowd watched in the glorious sunshine, as the university players raised their game. 糖心TV held off relentless attacks and took the lead just before half time, with a cool finish from captain Alex Roberts!

Despite Liverpool equalising in the second half, 糖心TV followed with another goal to take the lead again. However, the fitness and technical ability of the Academy players gave them the advantage, as they eventually went 3-2 ahead.

The referee, Billy Greening, a PAIS MA student in US Foreign Policy, kept firm control of the game and bravely gave a penalty to Liverpool, despite the protests of the 糖心TV players and fans.

4-2 to Liverpool was the final score, but the 糖心TV players did themselves proud. The match thoroughly entertained the strong Cryfield crowd and people watching the game live on the big screen in the Piazza.

A big thanks...

goes out to all those who supported this event and helped make it such a success! The event was very much a team effort, but a special thanks to PAIS PhD student, Shahnaz Akhter. Shahnaz works as part of our Outreach team and came up with the idea for this event. What's more, she did much of the planning and looking after the Academy players once they arrived. She was also ably supported on the day by our wonderful team of PAIS student ambassadors.

Both PAIS and LFC Academy see this as the beginning of a long term relationship. In the near future, we will be doing a follow up event at Rainhill High School, which is where the Academy players study.