糖心TV

Professor Chris Hughes, Head of Department, was recently featured in a 2 August  article discussing expectations for Japan's global role under the Shinzo Abe administration after the victory of his party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in July's Upper House elections.

The Mainichi is one of the most widely-read newspapers in Japan with a daily circulation of 4 million readers.

Read the article (PDF in Japanese)

The ESRC has recently announced that it has appointed Matthew Watson of PAIS to one of its from September 2013. These are made available on a biennial basis, and Professor Watson's is the first award of this nature ever to come to the department. The scheme is designed to identify potential ESRC 'champions', people whose work showcases UK social science as a whole to the wider world. PAIS Head of Department, Professor Christopher Hughes, says: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to house an award of such stature, and it is an indication of Matthew's standing within the profession that he was chosen to hold it in the face of such fierce competition".

Professor Watson's fellowship programme of work focuses on how it might be possible to rethink the concept of 'the market'. There is a purely intellectual element to his project, as it asks about the important shifts in the history of economic thought that have allowed the market to be conceived as a mechanism of efficient allocation, as well as how these shifts have been embedded in orthodox economics pedagogy. As befits the demands of the scheme, though, the project also has a practical element. The abstract questions on which the research design is based also have a real-world counterpart in asking why the response to the global financial crisis has been an increasingly unquestioning attachment to austerity. Professor Watson will be working alongside groups seeking to promote new ways of thinking about the market to challenge such an attachment, as well as with community education providers seeking to empower people to think critically about the obstacles currently being placed in the way of their life chances.

, Head of Department, was quoted in an article appearing on 19 July in The Christian Science Monitor entitled 'Hot summer for Japan and China disputes'. Below is an excerpt from the piece:

"Japan is keen not to militarize the dispute and is using the very substantial Japan Coast Guard as its first line of defense to ward off the Chinese presence," says Mr. Hughes. “His visit to Ishigaki … was a demonstration of Japan's resolve on the territorial issue."

, Professorial Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, was recently invited to provide expertise to the World Bank-funded as a member of their Distinguished External Reference Group (ERG) for the preparation of their upcoming 2014 Africa Capacity Indicators Report, which is centred on Capacity Development for Regionalism and Economic Integration.

The report will be produced in close collaboration with myriad stakeholders including over 20 independent African policy think-tanks, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, UK. As a member of the ERG, Prof Lisk will be expected to review and provide technical input into the: a) methodology for delivering the ACIR; b) data capturing instruments; c) commissioned background papers; d) ACIR Indices; and e) final Report.

, Assistant Professor in US National Security and a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, was recently highlighted on 糖心TV's News and Events page for his article '', published in the Journal of Cold War Studies this past April.

The press release, entitled 'A close Bond: how the CIA exploited 007 for gadget ideas and public relations', is in full.