School of Social and Political Science at The University of Edinburgh

School of Social and Political Science at The University of Edinburgh The School of Social and Political Science is one of the largest Schools within the University of Edinburgh

The School of Social and Political Science is one of the largest Schools within the University of Edinburgh. Our international community of students and staff undertake a wide variety of learning, teaching, research and engagement activities. Our interdisciplinary focus cuts across traditional social scientific boundaries, creating a vibrant and stimulating environment in which to work and study.

Dr Lukas Lehner was highly commended in the international Wiley Research Heroes Prize, recognising the societal impact a...
03/06/2026

Dr Lukas Lehner was highly commended in the international Wiley Research Heroes Prize, recognising the societal impact and benefit of his work.

Lukas was honoured in the Impact Beyond Academia category for his research on job guarantees, which aim to abolish long-term unemployment. This category is for researchers ‘whose work has made a tangible difference in policy, industry or society’.

The Wiley Research Heroes Prize runs each year to celebrate ‘the people who are making research more inclusive, innovative, and impactful’. There are five categories, and the prizes span all academic disciplines.

https://edin.ac/48W9Uft

Experts call for urgent reforms to better protect and support children affected by parental domestic homicide Researcher...
03/06/2026

Experts call for urgent reforms to better protect and support children affected by parental domestic homicide

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are calling for urgent reforms to better protect and support children affected by parental domestic homicide, following a major new study examining the long-term impact on young people across the UK and Ireland.

The study involved in-depth interviews with 32 participants, including adults who lost a parent to domestic homicide as children, caregivers, and professionals working across health, law enforcement, social care and domestic abuse services. Researchers found that, while physical safety was often prioritised in the immediate aftermath of a killing, children’s emotional wellbeing, sense of identity and long-term recovery needs were frequently overlooked.

https://edin.ac/4nGCDv2

AI is challenging the core values of mathematics: researchers call for urgent action As the rise of artificial intellige...
03/06/2026

AI is challenging the core values of mathematics: researchers call for urgent action

As the rise of artificial intelligence forces mathematicians to rethink what makes their field reliable and valuable, an international group of researchers has warned that AI is putting fundamental values of the discipline under threat.

The group of mathematicians from 15 international universities has created the new Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics, a call to protect the core values of mathematics in the age of AI.

The declaration is a response to questions including:

- What happens if a mathematical proof is no longer the work of a human, but of a proprietary AI model that academic researchers cannot access?
- Who is responsible for errors, and who gets credit if it is correct?
- How can we tell whether an AI-generated proof is truly new, or simply a clever reformulation of existing work without proper attribution?

These are no longer hypothetical questions, but current dilemmas mathematicians worldwide are grappling with.

Dr Michael Barany, Senior Lecturer in the History of Science at the University of Edinburgh, is one of the authors of the declaration. Dr Barany works in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the School of Social and Political Science.

https://edin.ac/4uGMRhs

NEWUniversity of Edinburgh experts strengthen pandemic preparedness A new initiative led by University of Edinburgh rese...
03/06/2026

NEW

University of Edinburgh experts strengthen pandemic preparedness

A new initiative led by University of Edinburgh researchers will help the world prepare more effectively for future pandemics by addressing one of the major lessons of COVID-19 – that pandemics affect far more than healthcare systems alone.

https://edin.ac/3S1Dz0Z

Fully-funded PhD Scholarship | University of Edinburgh One scholarship remains on Professor Andrew Hoskins' UKRI-funded ...
02/06/2026

Fully-funded PhD Scholarship | University of Edinburgh

One scholarship remains on Professor Andrew Hoskins' UKRI-funded WARSHARE project - "The New War Front: Digital Participation in War" - and we're looking for the right candidate to join the team this September.

The project: "Remembering and forgetting through digital trajectories of war": how billions of images, videos and messages shared on smartphones and platforms like Telegram are transforming how we fight, experience and remember war. This scholarship focuses on how digital images of war are collected, archived, lost, remembered and forgotten, and what that means for memory and accountability.

Based in the department of Sociology with interdisciplinary co-supervision possible across Psychology, Politics & IR, Computing and Law.

ELIGIBILITY
🔹 The full-time PhD Sociology programme start date must be no later than September 2026: https://study.ed.ac.uk/programmes/postgraduate-research/326-sociology
🔹 Only applicants with Home/UK fee status are eligible to apply. Work out your fee status here: https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/tuition-fees/fee-status/work-out

Applicants must ideally also meet the following criteria:
🔹 A background in memory studies or other relevant experience
🔹 Experience in qualitative research methods (interviews)

WHAT'S ON OFFER
🔹 4 years of funding
🔹 Annual stipend at the UKRI rate (£21,805 for 2026/27)
🔹 Full Home/UK tuition fee cover
🔹 Full-time PhD in Sociology, starting September 2026

A note on the work: this research engages with traumatic experiences of war and depictions of violence. It's important, careful work - and we take the wellbeing of researchers and participants seriously.

⏰ Deadline: 23:59 BST, Tuesday 23 June 2026. Late applications can't be accepted.

Find out more:
https://edin.ac/4ecjNIR

28/05/2026

Starting tomorrow - Friday 29 May 2026

People Fest is the UK Association of Social Anthropologists’ festival of public anthropology, and is on from 29-31 May. It is in Edinburgh this year to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Social Anthropology at the University.

56 events, 15 venues, 3 days.

Find out more about the events taking place and how you can get involved:
https://edin.ac/43A468c

British Academy Lecture 2026 Living and writing anthropology: experiments in anthropological non-fiction Thursday 14 May...
12/05/2026

British Academy Lecture 2026
Living and writing anthropology: experiments in anthropological non-fiction
Thursday 14 May • 5 PM - 7 PM
Professor Emma Tarlo: 'Living and writing anthropology: experiments in anthropological non-fiction

The University of Edinburgh is delighted to host Emma Tarlo as part of The British Academy Lecture Series.

In this lecture, Emma Tarlo reflects on her long-term engagement in the craft of anthropology and her experiments with developing new forms of anthropological non-fiction writing and exhibition making. Drawing on experiences which range from tracking the global trade in human hair across different continents to sharing food and friendship with two men living without shelter near her home in central London, she argues for the importance of serendipity in anthropological research and shares what she has learned about putting anthropological ideas into practice both in writing and in life.

Tarlo is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her recent books include Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair (Victor Turner Prize 2017) and Under the Hornbeams. She was a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library (2024–25).

Information and registration:
https://edin.ac/3PdlYCo

The decline and fall of Welsh Labour 2026 Scottish Election Study Annual LectureUsha Kasera Lecture TheatreMonday, May 2...
06/05/2026

The decline and fall of Welsh Labour

2026 Scottish Election Study Annual Lecture
Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre
Monday, May 25 • 6 PM - 7:30 PM

Welsh Labour has a claim to have been the world’s most successful democratic party. It has been the largest party in terms of votes and seats in Wales for a remarkable 28 success five UK general elections and, until now, had repeated that feat in every devolved election.

Join Professor Richard Wyn Jones for an insight into the future of Welsh politics.

Book your place:
https://edin.ac/4epNbfk

SPS Research UpdateAI fails to make inroads with cybercriminals, study finds Cybercriminals have been struggling to adop...
05/05/2026

SPS Research Update

AI fails to make inroads with cybercriminals, study finds

Cybercriminals have been struggling to adopt AI in their work, reports a first-of-its-kind study that analysed a dataset of 100 million posts from underground cybercrime communities.

In reality, most cybercriminals – often referred to as hackers – lack the skills or resources to support real innovation within their criminal activities, experts say.

https://edin.ac/4doFyET

SPS: Research UpdateEconomic insecurity linked with frailty in later life, study finds Older people who experience unsta...
05/05/2026

SPS: Research Update

Economic insecurity linked with frailty in later life, study finds

Older people who experience unstable finances, poor housing and fuel poverty are at increased risk of more rapid physical and mental decline as they age, a study suggests.

Research following more than 15,000 people in England has found that living in precarious social or financial circumstances is a key predictor of frailty in later life.

https://edin.ac/4tRpL7z

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