Research Candidates' Projects
Our candidates study a wide variety of topics in the political science field. Read more about the topics they are exploring here.
Beatrice Alupo
Thesis: Uganda's refugee response approach: Analysis of settlement programmes for refugee women
Prior to commencing her PhD project at Griffith University, Beatrice graduated with Msc. Governance and Regional Integration, majoring in Regional Integration from Pan African University, Cameroon after obtaining MA International Trade Policy and Law from Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda. Beatrice holds her first degree in the Bachelor of International Business of Makerere University, Uganda. Beatrice’s PhD project examines the gender inclusive response to refugee integration in Uganda, with a specific focus on the integration of refugee women. Specifically, the project will focuses on refugee women experiences on accessing and/or participating in socio-economic and political arenas.
Research interests include: Environment, Human rights, Public policy, Public relations, Refugees, Regional integration, Social policies, Trade and Women.
Julie Ballangarry
Thesis: Are education policy-making processes in Australia affecting the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?
Julie is a PhD student at the School of Government and International Relations. Prior to commencing her PhD Julie completed a Bachelor of Education with Honours (Class 1) and spent several years working in Remote and Low SES community schools. As a proud Gumbaynggirr/Dunghutti women, she is passionate about Indigenous issues especially in regards to education and public policy. Her current research seeks to explore why Indigenous education policies are continually failing by investigating the current approaches to policy-making in this arena.
Julie’s research interest include:
- Public policy
- Indigenous education
- Indigenous affairs and policies
- Black politics
Sen Kwong Patrick Chang
Thesis: Distribution of Political Power in Federal, Quasi-Federal and Unitary States and Their Influence on Minority Political Participation and Institutional Changes of Democratic Countries in the World and in the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand since 1970s?
The philosophical background of the study lies on the interest in examining the relationship between structure and actor. This study focuses on the influence of political institutions, namely federal, quasi-federal and unitary states, on political participation and institutional changes through historical institutionalism by using mixed method (both quantitative and qualitative).
Patrick previously gained his Bachelor of Social Sciences in Applied Sociology and Master of Arts in Public Policy and Management from City University of Hong Kong. Coming from Hong Kong with a one country two systems background, Patrick has a strong interest in studying how political institutions could affect political participation in the process of democratization.
His research interests include: Comparative Politics, Democratization and Institutionalism.
Nadia Farabi
Thesis: Religious peace-building in addressing internal displacement of religious minorities in Indonesia
Nadia Farabi is an Indonesian PhD student at the School of Government and International Relations. She has interest in exploring more about religious minority groups and religious peacebuilding in Indonesia. She had done research on internally displaced Ahmadiyah and Shia, two religious minority groups in Indonesia that have become displaced in their own land for more than five years. Nadia also interested to issues related to human security and non-traditional security, diplomacy, and global politics.
Nadia completed her Bachelor Degree from International Relations at Universitas Airlangga, and Master of International Relations with a focus on Global Humanitarian Diplomacy at Universitas Gadjah Mada. Before moving to Australia, Nadia experienced working as academic staff at the Department of International Relations Universitas Diponegoro.
Ibrahim Genc
Thesis: Turkey’s Curtailing Democracy
Ibrahim Genc is a PhD student in the school of Government and International Relations. Ibrahim holds a master’s degree from Victoria University, Melbourne. His research concerns the rise of ‘phantom democracies’ around the world. More specifically, he focuses on regimes like Turkey, and the ways their policies have eroded the values of democracy. Last year he joined Democratic Decay and Renewal as a research editor. Some of his works have appeared for a think tank organisation called Beyond the Horizon’s website. Ibrahim's Book Review of The New Despotism, John Keane (2020) in the publication Horizons Insights, Vol 3, Issue 4 is available here.
Ibrahim’s twitter profile here: https://twitter.com/gencibr
His main research interests are:
- Turkey
- Democratisation
- Democratic backsliding
- Authoritarianisms
Bogdan Mamaev
Thesis: Contentious Action in Democratic and Authoritarian States
Bogdan studied International Relations at Ural State Pedagogical University and untook a work placement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was a Turkish Government Scholarship holder and obtained an MA in Political Science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His Master’s project explored cycles of protests in Russia using political opportunity theory. He also attempted to use social networks and Google Trends as the tool to determine protest eventfulness and to identify the degree of public interest and awareness towards protest.
Research interests include:
- Social movements
- Contention
- Repression
- Democratisation and
- Authoritarianisation.
Lukas K. B. Nagel
Thesis: Youth Actvism in post-coup Myanmar
Social movements against authoritarianism globally and in Asia are often led by young people. Lukas’ research project aims to explore the perceptions, narratives and strategies of youth activists who oppose the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar. Prior to studying in Australia, Lukas worked in several anti-corruption projects in Kenya and peace-building/ research projects in Myanmar, the Philippines and India. He holds degrees in Sinology (B.A.) and Asian Studies (M.S). He is a certified Peace and Conflict consultant, human rights activist and member of an NGO which supports the democratic Milk Tea Alliance. He is a passionate motorcyclist, craft beer enthusiast, teacher and cinephile. His research interests include:
- Political Psychology and Nationalism
- Youth Activism and Identity Formation
- Peace and Conflict Studies
Email: Lukas.nagel@griffithuni.edu.au
See Lukas' Google Scholar Profile here.
Madeleine Pugin
Madeleine is a Kombumerri woman and PhD candidate in the School of Government and International Relations.
Prior to commencing her PhD, Madeleine was a high school English Teacher.
Madeleine's research is focusing on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, specifically cultural rights, and the struggle of identity and recognition of her people as the Traditional Custodians of their Country.
Madeleine is interested in Indigenous history, politics, and education.
Nay Kim
Thesis: Social Accountability in Fighting Corruption in Southeast Asia: The case of Cambodia, The Philippines and Indonesia
Nay Kim is a PhD candidate at the School of Government and International Relations and the Centre for Governance and Public Policy. Her PhD project aims to explore the current and potential roles of the formal citizen oversight mechanism, institutionalizing citizen engagement, in state-backed social accountability efforts to control corruption.
Nay holds a master’s degree in Development Practice from the University of Queensland. Nay is a former researcher for the International Budget Partnership (IBP) on Open Budget Survey in Cambodia. Nay's professional experiences lie in programme management, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and social research.
Her main research interests are public policy, public integrity, anti-corruption, and social policy.