SPAIS – the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies –  is an interdisciplinary research and teaching environment with close to sixty academic staff.

Our prominent academics are exploring pressing theoretical questions and engaging in cutting-edge empirical research. They are internationally renowned in their fields – with their ideas published in academic books and journals, policy reports and articles, and discussed in lively debate across the media and through events organised by our research centres. 

There has never been more need for innovative, relevant and rigorous social and political science. Our research and teaching addresses some of the most important topics that face us today: questions of globalisation, risk and uncertainty; issues of security and the resilience of states; of gender and social inequality; problems of migration, ethnicity and citizenship; and dilemmas of global development and sustainability.  

We address these with research conducted in areas as diverse as the societies of East Asia, the European Union and the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.

SPAIS is also a lively and friendly place to work and study.  Benefiting from the distinctive ambience of the city of Bristol and the excellent facilities of the University, we provide a welcoming and supportive approach to students – undergraduate and postgraduate – and to scholars from diverse parts of the world.

Professor Therese O'Toole

Head of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS)