Our PhD candidates

PhD candidates and their research

• Julia Deutz

  ‘Working primarily in the domain of (social) epistemology, my PhD research focusses on belief in conspiracy theories. The study of conspiracy theories and the people who believe them is a highly interdisciplinary field, urging philosophers to conduct empirically informed research. The aim of the dissertation is to acquire a more thorough understanding of people who hold dissenting views and to develop possible routes for depolarization.’

• Yunus Barış Ertürk

  'My research topic is the effect and the structure of the “politicization” of the European Union’s Foreign Policy. I attempt to shed light on the politics behind the EU’s Foreign Policy identity through various mechanisms. Rather than a static or consensus-based process, my research provides a dynamic and comprehensive analysis of the under-studied aspect of the EU Foreign Policy.'

• Xiaorui Gong

  'I’m interested in the effect of monetary policy and its effect on the yield curve. To be more specific, the research questions include how to identify the monetary effect and the monetary transmission to real economy, and how to efficiently estimate those effects and transmission. Over the past decades, traditional monetary policies have been found to be weak and not sufficient to deal with an abundant number of anomalies. I believe my research will correctly tackle those aberrations, and forecast the impact of monetary policy on all aspects of the economy. Moreover, the results will also give political guidelines, e.g., evaluating monetary policy impact on diversity and equality, making the decision on rules versus discretion, helping political economists understand recessions, etc.'

• Cian Higgins

  ‘My research topic is on the use of behavioural economics to examine, critique, and refine modes of democratic participation. My research focuses on framing and priming effects, and how they can be used to both understand why people behave the way they do in the political space, as well as how they can be encouraged to behave in a more pro-social way.’

• Sarah Poss

  ‘My research considers how states respond to anthropogenic existential threats, focusing on US foreign policy toward the Arctic region. With a background in international relations, international (geo)political economy, and energy politics, I aim to understand how existential risks that arose from technological advancement and state-led development are addressed by the great powers that presided over their emergence.’  

• Marina Uzunova

  ‘My research lies in, and at the intersection of, philosophy and economics using tools from game theory, social networks, and social choice theory. My thesis is on the interplay between voting power, decision making and stable change in hierarchical organisations.’

• Emi Visser

  ‘My research lies in political theory, specifically in democratic theory. My thesis focuses on two related questions: how responsive do democratic deliberative processes need to be the diverse interests that are represented in parliament in order to be legitimate? And from an empirical perspective: how responsive are political institutions (bureaucracies, agencies, ministries) to diverse and inclusive democratic deliberation?’