Foreign policy, defence and security studies

POLIS staff have an international reputation for producing world-leading research on key contemporary challenges in foreign policy, defence and security. Research outputs include work on leadership, decision-making, defence capabilities, security governance, threat perception, counter-terrorism, conflict resolution, disinformation and security competition. Notably, they have expertise in a range of national, regional and international contexts, including, the UK, EU, Russia, Iran, China, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

POLIS staff are keen to undertake supervision that has theoretical and practical importance. They have received funding for practical research on intelligence accountability and the PREVENT programme and adopt a range of approaches to the subject, from conventional historical analysis to critical and gendered perspectives.

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent). If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English. 

Potential research projects

We welcome enquiries about PhD study in the broad field of democratic politics, including:

• British and EU foreign, defence and security policy
• Rising powers, Chinese foreign policy, Indian foreign policy, the Belt and Road Initiative
• Counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation, national security politics, foreign policy, terrorism studies and critical security studies
• Russian foreign and security policy, (Russian) national identity and nation building, memory politics/history politics/ historical narratives including commemoration
• Populism and (social) media disinformation/propaganda/fake news/influence ops, public diplomacy/international broadcasting
• (Critical) discourse analysis and narrative analysis, Iran’s domestic politics and foreign policy, Middle East politics
• Gender, conflict resolution and peacekeeping
• African international relations

Potential supervisors

• Dr Filippo Boni
• Prof William Brown
• Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody
• Prof Jamie Gaskarth
• Dr Georgina Holmes
• Dr Tom Martin 
• Dr Edward Wastnidge

Fees and funding

Research students can apply for funding via the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership with Oxford and Brunel, or the Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP in collaboration with Oxford and Cambridge universities. The Citizenship Studies pathway of the Grand Union DTP is hosted within the Department. Alternatively, many of our students are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, see Current studentships.

Links

• Politics and International Studies at The Open University
• Postgraduate Research in Politics & International Studies (POLIS) | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (open.ac.uk)