Professor Sharman, who received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999, succeeds Professor Christopher Hill. As an undergraduate, Professor Sharman studied history and politics at the University of Western Australia. 

Professor Sharman will be teaching the second year undergraduate paper 'POL3: International Organisation' and the MPhil in Public Policy. His recent publications include International Order in Diversity: War, Trade and Rule in the Indian Ocean (2015) which won the 2016 Jervis-Schroeder Award and the 2017 Francesco Guicciardini Prize.

Our termly alumni interview

NAME: Ahir Shah 

DEGREE OBTAINED: PPS, 2012

COLLEGE: Clare College

I read PPS at Cambridge between 2009 and 2012, arriving in the aftermath of the financial crisis and then re-entering the world on a wave of 'Gangnam Style'. It is hard to tell which of these global upheavals that bookended my formative years had the greater impact on my personal and professional development...

Dr Roxane Farmanfarmaian and Dr Ali Sonay awarded Philomathia Forum grant

The 2017 Philomathia Forum will discuss how the media empower or exclude different citizen groups at times of crisis and what this implies for democratic resilience. To be held on 10 April 2017, the Forum is entitled 'Democratic Resilience and the Media: The Effects of Policy and Communication Strategies on Community Cohesion in Times of Threat'.

Based on research produced by the University of Cambridge-Al Jazeera Media Project over the past three years, the Forum will examine the relationship of media to policy and the implications for community culture, social cohesion and citizen fear in the UK. The workshop will include scholars at the University, policymakers, media professionals and representatives of faith communities.

The Forum precedes the annual Philomathia Symposium in November 2017.

We are sad to announce the passing of Baraka Khan, HSPS student between 2009 and 2012. Baraka passed away in February 2016 aged just 24 after a battle with lung cancer. During her treatment, Baraka raised nearly £600,000 for charitable causes close to her heart, and her family and friends are continuing to fundraise and have set up a website in her memory where friends and fellow students can upload their tributes and memories.

Dr Devon Curtis, who was Barak’s Director of Studies, said: "POLIS was very sad to learn that our former student, Baraka Khan, passed away in February 2016. Her lecturers, supervisors and fellow students all remember her bright smile and joyful presence in POLIS and Emmanuel. She had boundless enthusiasm, insightful questions and a keen intellect, and her lecturers and supervisors remember her engaging ideas, her optimism, and her curiosity about the world. Every supervision could have gone on for hours with Baraka, since she always had astute observations about what she had read, together with a lively sense of humour. She was an effective communicator, a spirited debater, an avid rower, and above all else, a compassionate and kind individual. She will be greatly missed and very fondly remembered in POLIS."