The School of Geography, Politics and Sociology

Political Philosophy

Political Philosophy

Research Cluster

The Newcastle Political Philosophy Group is one of the largest groups of contemporary political philosophers in the UK.

We have seven analytical political philosophers (Prof. Derek Bell, Dr. Stephen Elstub, Dr Mollie Gerver, Prof. Peter Jones, Dr. Graham Long, Dr. Ian O’Flynn, and Dr. Andrew Walton) and tow staff working in the continental tradition (Prof. Hartmut Behr and Dr. Jemima Repo).

The group’s members currently co-supervise 18 PhD students within and beyond political philosophy and lead MA programmes in International Politics: Global Justice and Ethics and International Studies.

We have particular research strengths in global justice, public policy and deliberative democracy. Our aim is to produce world-leading philosophical research that helps us to better understand and address contemporary societal challenges, including:

  • poverty
  • housing and settlements
  • climate change
  • human rights
  • war and peace
  • terrorism and security
  • religious, ethnic and cultural divisions
  • the politics of gender
  • the ethics of global trade
  • immigration and asylum

We hold a fortnightly seminar series (Monday 15.00-16.30) where we host visiting speakers and present our work in progress to the group. We also hold joint seminars with the Political Philosophy group at Durham University each year and regularly host workshops and conferences around the societal challenges noted above. 

We welcome applications for post-doctoral and postgraduate research in most areas of contemporary political philosophy. Details of funding opportunities for post-doctoral research.

Further information on applying to study for an MPhil or PhD.

For further information contact the Political Philosophy Group Co-ordinator, Prof Derek Bell.

Staff

Staff involved in working within this research cluster are listed below.

StaffList: Political Philosophy

Professor Derek Bell
Professor of Environmental Political Theory

Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7465

Mary Hull
Teaching Assistant

Meera Inglis
Teaching Fellow

Email:

Professor Peter Jones
Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy

Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7528

Dr Graham Long
Senior Lecturer

Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7566

Chris Mullin
Teacher

Dr Ian O'Flynn
Senior Lecturer in Political Theory

Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 2087507

Dr Jemima Repo
Senior Lecturer in the Politics of Gender

Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 8603

Dr Jo Swaffield
Research Excellence Academy Fellow

Email:
Telephone: 0191 208 3690

Dr Andrew Walton
Lecturer in Political Philosophy

Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5554

Projects

Projects being worked on as part of this research cluster are listed below.

Postgraduates' Projects

Our postgraduates are working on diverse subjects within this research cluster.

NameTopic
Jayne Carrick Improving the legitimacy of the consenting process for marine renewable energy projects by participatory Bayesian Belief Network modelling of ecological and socio-economic data
Thomas Liljedahl Accommodating plurality. How to best meet the challenges of diverse society