As we begin another year, we’re taking a moment to look back on everything the Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law’s (CISRUL) staff, PhD candidates, and alumni have been working on over the past year.
On the research front, the Political Concepts in the World (POLITICO) project successfully concluded with the summer graduations. The project, which hosted Early-Stage Researchers drawn from across the social sciences and humanities, focused on understanding how political concepts are used in the world, with each researcher developing their own PhD theses related to this. Alongside this, CISRUL staff members continued their own research, notably including Professor Trevor’s Stack’s research on Civil Society and Collaboration in Response to Crime-Related Violence and Dr Rachel Shanks’ school uniform research which has informed Scottish National Guidelines. We also had fascinating ongoing research being conducted by our current PhD candidates, including:
- Neha Dwivedi’s research on the discursive construction of the ‘right’ time in US-Afghan peace negotiations;
- Shao-Chi Kuo’s research on the political and public theological significance of faith disobedience in Chinese house churches;
- Sabelo Ndwandwe’s research which combines philosophy, critical race theory and social history to think about Black Maleness as a peculiar social location of sexual victimisation and disposability that remains understudied in [southern] African Studies;
- Sam McReavy’s research which focuses on urban spatial theory and Science Fiction as a pedagogical tool in the work of Henri Lefebvre;
- Daisy Mugadza’s research surrounding the separation of powers in English public law; and,
- Boglarka Vincze’s research work on waves of constitutional change in the UK’s devolved nations, focusing on the evolution of devolution frameworks.
In 2025 we heard from multiple CISRUL alumni about their new roles, including Dr Eve Hayes de Kalaf’s appointment as Lecturer in Humanities Training at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, Dr A. Sophie Lauwers’ postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, and Dr Valentine Clavé-Mercier’s position as Lecturer in Political Studies at the School of Political Science and Sociology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. We have also shared news about recent or upcoming books, including ‘Rights, Virture, and Others in MacIntyre: Community After the Fall’ by Dr Joel Pierce, ‘Decolonising Political Concepts’ by Dr Valentine Clavé-Mercier and Dr Marie Wuth, and an upcoming book by Dr Aditya Mohanty titled ‘Subaltern Brokers: Unpacking Community Leadership in Urban India’.
Finally, CISRUL held numerous events, hosting both University of Aberdeen and visiting scholars:
- ‘Christianity and Democracy: Repairing the Intellectual Deficit’ with Dr Jonathan Chaplain, University of Cambridge
- ‘International Experiences with Children in Conflict with the Law’, co-hosted with the Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures (IICF), Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), Scottish Council on Global Affairs (SCGA), Change for Change UK, and Edinburgh University’s Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group (CYS)
- ‘Looking and Squatting as Forms of Civil Disobedience’ with Professor Brian Brock, University of Aberdeen
- ‘Construction of the “Right Time” in US-Afghan Peace Negotiations’ with CISRUL and Department of Politics and International Relations PhD candidate Neha Dwivei
- Reading seminar on ‘The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study’, hosted by CISRUL PhD candidate Sabelo Ndwandwe
- ‘The Crisis of Colonial Anglicanism: Empire, Slavery and Revolt in the Church of England’ with Professor Martyn Percy, University of Saint Joseph
- ‘Humorous Politics: The Increasing Role of Laughter in Public Affairs’, with CISRUL associate Dr Raúl Acosta, Goethe University Frankfurt
- The first in a series of reading seminars hosted by CISRUL, ‘What is a Constitution? Reading Toward a Problem’
- ‘The Process of the New OECD/G20-Inclusive Framework International Order – A Friend or a Foe to the Developing World?’ by CISRUL PhD candidate Daisy Mugadza
- ‘Temporal Oddities in Conservative Approaches to the British Empire’ with Dr Tom Bentley, University of Aberdeen
- ‘Education for Democracy: Political Participation and Practice in Schools’ with Dr Rachel Shanks, University of Aberdeen
- Reading seminar on ‘Environmentalism Constitutionalism’ with Dr Erin Ferguson, University of Aberdeen
- ‘Global Value Chain Governance: A Socio-Legal Study of Voluntarism in the European Context’ with Dr Nevena Jevremović, University of Aberdeen
- ‘Beyond Pax Mafiosa: Apparent Peace, Human Rights, and Organised Crime in Mexico’ with Professor Trevor Stack, University of Aberdeen
- ‘21st Century Challenges to Peace: Theory, Pedagogy, Policy and Practice in Peace Work’ with Professor Gearoid Millar, University of Aberdeen
- ‘Frontiers of Black Freedom: Internationalism, Americanism, and Anti-Racist Solidarity During the 1930s’ with Dr Owen Walsh, University of Aberdeen
To keep up to date with CISRUL news and upcoming events for 2026, follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
We’re also always happy to share the work and achievements of staff, PhD candidates, and alumni – contact Dr Elise Boyle Espinosa at elise.boyleespinosa@abdn.ac.uk if you have any updates to share with us in 2026!