The Department of Politics and International Studies has achieved the Athena Swan Silver award, a prestigious UK charter mark that recognises the advancement of gender equality in higher education. This is an important acknowledgement of the ongoing dedication and progress of the department in promoting gender equality for staff and students.

We are delighted to announce that the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) at the University of Warwick has moved up to joint 2^nd place out of 79 UK Politics Departments in The Times/The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023. This prestigious league table continues to place us 1st in the Russell Group for both ‘teaching quality’ and ‘student experience’.

While at CIDE in Mexico, Andreas Murr has been developing election forecasts for the upcoming Mexican presidential election on 2 June. In two blog posts written together with Mike Lewis-Beck he describes what citizens as well as other approaches forecast.

NEW FUND: Interdisciplinary Research Spotlights: Research Development Fund (IRDF) Call 24/25
As part of the launch on the new Spotlights programme, we are pleased to announce the opening of a new fund aimed at interdisciplinary research. The 2024-25 Interdisciplinary Research Spotlights Research Development Fund (IRDF) will support awards of normally up to a maximum of £15,000 for interdisciplinary research projects that align with the Research Spotlights with activities taking place between 1 August 2024 - 31 July 2025.
The deadline for IRDF applications for 24/25 is 1pm, Wednesday 5 June 2024.

Dr Victor Agboga has successfully defended his PhD thesis, passing with minor corrections. His thesis, "Where Do Your Loyalties Lie? Party Switching and Voters' Response in Nigeria," was examined by Adrienne LeBas from American University, Washington DC, and Jessica Di Salvatore from PAIS, Warwick. Supervised by Gabrielle Lynch and Andreas Murr, Victor is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science.