Really looking forward to helping build bridges between what was formerly known as 'qualitative' and 'quantitative' research. Couldn't think of a better colleague than @floriangkern.bsky.social to pull this off. Xtra happy to see this happening in the current dire times of UK HE #sciencerocks

🚨Excited to announce that @chrisguarnold.bsky.social and I learned that the ESRC has awarded funding for our project "Exploring the Re-Analysis and Recycling of Qualitative Data with Machine Learning". 🚨 In the current climate of UK higher ed, we feel particularly fortunate to be supported. 1/5

🚨Call for papers: Mwita Chacha and I are convening the "International Politics in Africa" stream at the African Studies Association of the UK 2026 (Durham, Sept 10-12, 2026). The stream aims to bring together scholars with an interest in the intersection between African and international politics.

Check it out! Sign up for the workshop series on multilingualism, conflict, and conflict resolution in Africa.

If you’re also interested in the politics of multilingualism, and how it relates to conflict and conflict resolution, in Africa and elsewhere, join us for the research workshop series we are starting! See below on how to join.

Bakurday

“Nach Lippe muss man wollen,” I repeat to myself, while navigating what the Deutsche Bahn has in store for me.

The workshop "Computational Social Sciences meets Qualitative Research" at #LSE last week was exceptional 🤩Now preparing the Special Issue that is going to be 🔥 so watch this space. Thank you to all the participants and chairs for your great insights and the amazing vibe.

Discussion continues in between sessions 📚

It’s Day One of our Computational Social Science Meets Qualitative Research workshop ✍️ We kicked things off with the first paper from @audreyalejandro.bsky.social @dandekadt.bsky.social 💡

On my way to the LSE workshop "#ComputationalSocialScience meets Qualitative Research." Presenting @floriangkern.bsky.social and my framework on how #multimodalML & #LLMs help re-analyse & recycle qual data. Let's leave qual–quant clone wars behind us. #ScienceRocks www.lse.ac.uk/methodology/...

Thank you to the students of our Essex Politics Society for organising yesterday's wonderful panel, 'Populism: On the Rise,' featuring Professor Natasha Lindstaedt, Dr. Roi Zur, and Dr. Rafael Tauil, moderated by Professor Faten Ghosn. #EssexGov #EssexPoliticsSociety #PoliticalScience

🌍 EssexGov researchers in Kampala for the Multilingualism, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution in Africa (MCCRA) project — a £2.5M ESRC-funded collaboration (2023–2027) studying how language shapes conflict and peacebuilding across Africa. #EssexGov #EssexGovImpact @mccrafrica-essex.bsky.social

Big questions. Brilliant speakers. This term at @EssexGov: 📊 Demographic change 🌐 Great power politics & the UN (with ModelUN) 🌍 Africa in multilateral organisations Join us! Link in bio. #PoliticalScience #EssexGov

Raila Odinga, an enduring voice of Kenya’s democratic struggle, dies aged 80 rfi.my/C6F7.BS

🌍 The Africa Special Interest Group (ASIG) meets every Tuesday from 11:00 — the hub for Africa-focused research at Essex! Co-directed by Prof Hannah Gibson & Dr. Florian Kern, and open to all — staff, students, and anyone interested. Come say hi! ☕ #EssexGov #ASIG

That’s me talking about links between my daily job and climate change for the @leverhulme.ac.uk, thanks to the Expeditions partner which come to speak to me and championed my research 💙 (yes you can tell it is me because that is indeed my house and I‘m zero tv trained but hey at least it‘s not AI!)

Professor @fgenovese.bsky.social @politicsoxford.bsky.social, specialises in the politics of climate and crises. She reflects on the need to take responsibility in the fight against climate change. www.joinexpeditions.com/experts/4624

extremely well put

For the Guardian, @turnbulldugarte.com and I discuss our research that clearly shows one thing: Labour's anti-immigration strategy will only strengthen Reform and weaken its own electoral prospects. It won't win voters back but ultimately normalizes the far right www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Most of the time, I’m outnumbered.

MCCRA team members Angiachi Demetris, Hannah Gibson, and Fiona Tumusiime present research on language and conflict at Makerere University, Uganda. Most of the team will be in Kampala soon - stay tuned! @uniessexgov.bsky.social @africasigessex.bsky.social @universityofessex.bsky.social

❗This week the MCCRAfrica project team is in #Kampala -planning the next stages of our research. Today, we kicked off with a planning session for our upcoming field trip in the #DRC led by Dr. Alain Bernard Nseka and Dr. Delphin Kayembe. More updates to follow, as the workshop unfolds…stay tuned!

Very Bielefeld of Bielefeld train station to cancel all trains to and from Bielefeld. #DeutscheBahn

I had the pleasure of joining NPR's @planetmoney.bsky.social to talk about central banks, what’s happening with the Fed, & why it matters. Big thanks to @erikaberas.bsky.social for a fun and engaging interview (+ Carola Binder & Lev Menand). @uniessexgov.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/09/05/n...

👏 Congrats to Dr Laura Sudulich on completing her Parliamentary Academic Fellowship with @ukparliament.parliament.uk! Outcome: a global map of parliamentary public engagement 🗺️ 📅 Launch Event: 25 Sept, Westminster 🎙️ Chaired by @shane-martin.bsky.social #EssexGov #EssexImpact #UKParliament

📈 The University of Essex is on the rise! The Guardian University Guide 2026 ranks us: 🏆 12th overall in the UK 📚 12th for Politics 🌍 9th for International Relations #EssexGov #EssexImpact #EssexIR #UniversityRankings

President Trump’s attempt to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook could undermine the economy -- and amp up inflation. The Fed’s role is to keep decisions like interest rates tied to data, not short-term political gain. Video from an article by political economists Ana Carolina Garriga and Cristina Bodea

When you were just one voluntary severance scheme away from sucking at this. #whodathunk

It’s August, but a decently sized @uniessexgov.bsky.social Institutions group met today for our monthly reading workshop to discuss @sascenciob.bsky.social’s super interesting working paper on gender quotas and intraparty battles. No presentation, just reading and discussion. Good group, this.

The purveyors of AI want us to believe that AI is the perfect educator. Because they want us to believe that it's more effective to invest tax dollars in private companies than in public services.

Es gibt aktuell keinen besseren Journalismus zu afrikanischen Themen als @thecontinent.org und Ihr könnt ihn einfach über Signal und WhatsApp UMSONST abonnieren: wa.me/27738056068?... signal.me#eu/_OpoNMfIF...

Das ist der Zeitgeist: aufgeben

Erklär mir mal einer warum Superpunk‘s Ich weigere mich aufzugeben nur 55k streams of Spotify hat. Unfassbar. @dalangmalang.bsky.social da muss mehr kommen.

Everything is AI news or AI related opining, so as a cleanser here is one of the most humanly raw pieces of art still around: Opera dei Pupi (hand-made marionettes theatre telling stories of the Crusades) in Palermo, Sicily

This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1

The fossil fuel majors are going to be held legally accountable eventually. It is a question of whether they face justice before they condemn us to an unliveable future, or after www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Great research workshop yesterday with our @mccra-essex.bsky.social team discussing our paper drafts on multilingualism, conflict and conflict resolution in Africa, as well as our fieldwork plans. Lots more to come. @uniessexgov.bsky.social @odi.global

Interesting piece on the complex research field around the benefits of speaking other languages economist.com/science-and-...

Beach time in England

Survey evidence: the people are incredibly interested in the Club World Cup.

What an inspiring afternoon! We were incredibly honoured to host Diane Abbott MP on campus. We had the opportunity to share our Department's cutting-edge research and give a tour of our beautiful campus. #DianeAbbott #AWomanLikeMe #UniversityofEssex #EssexGov #AcademicSky

40% der 50.000 beim Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz bekannten deutschen Rechtsextremen sind mittlerweile Mitglied in der AfD. Die AfD ist nicht nur Teil der rechtsextremen Szene, sie ist die rechtsextreme Szene.

Aus deutscher Sicht ist das einfach komplett unakzeptabel. Wir sehen, dass unsere Nachbarn es viel besser machen und dürfen von ihnen lernen und besser werden.

Our brilliant PhD student Eden Anin-Adjei @researchwitheden.bsky.social @uniessexgov.bsky.social is running a survey to investigate politics in British African communities. If you have ties to the community, she'd appreciate people sharing her survey widely: essex.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

🚨News from my home town!

Brexit just keeps on giving...

We are still accepting applications for our fully funded Writing Workshop on International Politics in Africa, focused on scholars based in Africa (held in Nairobi in 2026). Feel free to apply or forward to your networks!

*Results*: No matter how you cut the data, theres a visible increase of oil spills in UK vis-à-vis the rest of European waters. The finding is robust to various models, the inclusion of spatial lags, subsetting for high confidence spills, and accounting for any legal (aka authorized) spills.

🚨 WP w/ @acalacino.bsky.social & @hayleypring.bsky.social It’s been a turbulent decade of globalization backlash. Populist projects wanna take back control everywhere. Focusing on the case of oil and Brexit, we offer a story of the danger of this narrative and concrete merits of multilateralism: 🧵