Dr Jane Kirkpatrick

• Qualifications:BA(Hons), MSc, PhD
• Position:Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations
• Department:HAS - Health and Social Sciences
• Telephone:+441179656261
• Email:Jane.Kirkpatrick@uwe.ac.uk

About me

Jane is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Her research focuses on civil society, international state-building, UK parliamentary politics, and the role of popular culture in political learning. She is particularly interested in how civic actors engage with institutions of power—both locally and globally—and how these dynamics are shaped by conflict, external intervention, and shifting political opportunities.

Jane teaches across Politics and International Relations, with a focus on resistance, civil society, and UK parliamentary processes. She leads UWE’s Parliamentary Studies module (delivered in partnership with the UK Parliament) and supervises student research in related areas. In 2024, she was awarded UWE’s Vice Chancellor’s Early Career Researcher Development Award for the project Civil society and UK select committees: exploring engagement and impact through climate and environmental issues.

An ongoing strand of Jane’s research explores how videogames can be used as tools for teaching and learning in International Relations. She is particularly interested in how games can be used to engage students with issues such as counter-insurgency, civilian experiences of conflict, resistance, and digital literacy. In 2022, she received the British International Studies Association Learning and Teaching Grant for her project Unlocking the potential for videogames as a tool for teaching international studies, which included classroom-based interventions and critical student reflections on game-based learning.

Her doctoral research examined how international state-building interventions shape civil society and grassroots political activism. Drawing on the cases of Vetëvendosje in Kosovo and the civil society organisation Afghanistan 1400, she explored how international actors influence the development and strategic choices of local political movements.

Jane is a Director and Editor-in-Chief of E-International Relations, the world’s leading open access International Relations website. She is also an active member of the Social Science Research Group and the Global Security and Human Rights theme at UWE.

Publications

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