Staff and students from the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London, have won three prestigious prizes at this year’s Political Studies Association (PSA) Annual International Conference, which took place in Cardiff.
Dr Nicholas Allen and Jack O’Neill at this year's PSA conference in Cardiff
The PSA is the professional body of British political scientists and Britain’s leading organisation for promoting the study of politics. Each year it awards a number of prizes that recognise excellence in the fields of research, teaching and the student experience.
Dr Nicholas Allen, from Royal Holloway, whose works covers political ethics and integrity, as well as elections and prime ministers, was the recipient of the Richard Rose Prize, which is awarded annually to an early-career scholar who has made a distinctive contribution to the study of British politics.
Dr Allen is the co-author of Ethics and Integrity in British Politics, and his next book, None Past the Post: Britain at the Polls, 2017, will be published in June.
Dr Michelle Bentley, an expert in US foreign policy and the use of chemical weapons, was awarded the POLITICS Learning and Teaching Prize, a biennial prize for the best article published in the journal Politics, for her research into ‘Trigger Warnings and the Student Experience’.
In this article, Dr Bentley draws on new evidence to explore students’ experiences of ‘trigger warnings’ and how they affect their learning experience.
The Politics and International Relations Society (PIRSoc), a student-run body, was presented with the inaugural Politics Society of the Year Prize for the number and quality of its events and activities, including its outstanding record of achievement at the National Model United Nations in New York.
Jack O’Neill, an undergraduate student and the president of PIRSoc at Royal Holloway, said: “I’m immensely proud we have been given this recognition, especially as it’s the first time that the PSA has recognised societies across the country.
It’s testament to all of the hard work of this year’s committee and of committees before us.”
Commenting on the prizes, Professor Sandra Halperin, head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that the work of staff and students in the Department has been recognized in this way.
“To win one prize is fantastic, but to win three is remarkable. It’s a real tribute to our staff’s dedication and commitment to research and teaching, and to our students’ energy, drive and ambition.”
