Administrator

Administration

An overview of recent administrative roles:

REACH Alliance Co-Director

I founded and co-direct an innovative pilot program for impactful student research experiences called The REACH Alliance with the University of Toronto in 2020.  Together with my co-Director Akshay Mangla, Oxford REACH is committed to producing four published cases studies by 2025. Specifically, REACH involves students in faculty-mentored research to examine how critical interventions and innovations provide services and goods those who are the hardest to reach in pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  It targets policy innovations for those living in extreme poverty, the geographically remote, and the administratively invisible and marginalized. REACH Oxford has built a clear pathway for motivated public policy and business students to gain research experience without enrolling in a formal research degree.

Throughout the 2020–21 academic year, the pilot team conducted online research under the challenging conditions of Covid-19 lockdown and published our first case study on the effect of mainstreaming gender-sensitive police reform piloted in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.  Based on these case study findings, our team developed clear policy recommendations which are currently being used to inform the roll-out of this reform in another Indian state.  We are currently running our second case study, evaluating whether and how a teacher mentorship scheme in the Indian state of Haryana has helped teachers adapt to the challenges of teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic.

MSc in Public Policy Steering Committee

I helped to design, iterate and steer through university administration BSG’s newest degree Programme, the MSC in Politics and Public Policy.  This involves the complete design, iteration, management and admissions for the programme as well as adapting elements of the new degree to on-the-ground realities. The MSc admitted its first student cohort during the 2022–23 academic year. 

Director of Graduate Studies

Between 2019–22, I served as the Blavatnik School’s Director of Graduate Studies.  This role involved approving applications for confirmation, transfer or suspensions of status and convening necessary departmental input in advance of and attending Social Science Division meetings. 

Other

In addition, I am a regular member of sitting departmental and university committees.  These include:

  • Blavatnik School Termly MPP Committee 2013–17, 2019–22.

  • Blavatnik School Termly Examinations Committee: 2014–17, including Chair in 2016–17.

  • Blavatnik School Termly Appointments Committee: 2019–present.

  • Blavatnik School Termly Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee: 2022–present, Chair in 2023.

  • Blavatnik School Termly Faculty Meetings: 2013–present.

  • Blavatnik School Monthly Strategy and Resources Group Committee: 2019–present.

  • Blavatnik School Alfred Landecker Programme Committee: 2019–present.

  • Oxford University Academic Ambassador Programme, 2017–present

  • Oxford University Clarendon Scholarship Selection Committee, 2020–21, 2021–22

  • Oxford University Weidenfeld-Hoffman Scholarship Selection Committee, 2021–22

  • Oxford University Vice-Chancellor’s Asia Philanthropy Circle, 2022–23

Professional service

I serve in a range of leadership roles in the broader discipline. I review about 12 to 15 article manuscripts a year for the top journals in my subfield, including American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Democratization, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, International Security, Nationalities Papers, Nations and Nationalism, Party Politics, Studies in Comparative International Development, World Politics.  I also review one to two full book manuscripts a year for Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.

I am in the process of both proposing and serving as interim co-president for a new Politics and Nationalism division of the American Political Science Association (APSA). I was APSA Politics and History Division chair (2015–16). This latter task involved arranging the conference program for the APSA annual meeting for two years (i.e. selected/constructed the panels in my division).

I have also served on a number of prize committees of the American Political Science Association which include:

  • American Political Science Association, 2019 Comparative Democratization Best Book Committee Member.

  • American Political Science Association, 2018 Comparative Democratization Best Book Committee Member.

  • American Political Science Association, 2017 Comparative Democratization Best Article Committee Member.

  • American Political Science Association, 2014 Selection Committee for the Best Paper on Comparative Democratization.

  • American Political Science Association, 2011 Selection Committee for Juan Linz Prize for the Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics.