Andy joined the School of Social and Political Sciences in August 2016 as a Lecturer in International Relations. Prior to coming to Glasgow, he worked as a Teaching Associate at the University of Strathclyde, as energy attaché to the UK Member of the European Court of Auditors, and as a Research Assistant at the European Policies Research Centre.  He has also previously taught at the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Stirling and the West of Scotland, and was awarded his PhD from the University of Strathclyde in 2012.

Other Profiles

Personal Website | Linkedin | Researchgate | Google Scholar

My current research can be grouped into three main areas. 

The first concerns the construction of energy as a security issue.  In various projects, I have sought to examine the re-emergence of energy security as a policy concern in EU and national contexts through the application of different strands of securitisation theory.  In short, I am interested in understanding how claims about energy (in)security serve to (de)legitimise different energy and security policies, and the particular factors which distinguish energy issues from other kinds of security concern.  Recently completed and current projects in this area have focused on the securitisation and riskification of gas supplies in the UK and Poland, the geopoliticisation of EU-Russian energy relations, and the legitimation of EU legislation for the security of gas supplies.

The second concerns EU policymaking, and in particular the role of interest groups in the EU policy process.  I am currently working on a project examining the responsiveness of the EU institutions to interest groups with Professor Robert Thomson.  This project connects the formative and decision-making stages of the legislative process through a quantitative analysis of an original dataset of interest group submissions to European Commission consultations and the well-established DEU II dataset on decision-making in the EU.  Our aim is to understand the links between interest group preferences and different stages of the legislative process.

The third focuses on the impact of Brexit on how the UK manages crises and develops alternative mechanisms for cooperating with the EU.  I am currently working on a Carnegie Trust funded project with Dr John Connolly examining whether and how the instittional and operational arrangements for preventing and managing crises will need to be adapted when the UK leaves the EU.  We are focusing on the management of pandemics and gas supply disruptions as case studies in the first stage of this project.

Carnegie Research Incentives Grant 70701

The implications of Brexit for UK crisis governance: The cases of health and energy security

I am interested in supervising PhD students in any of my areas of research interests.  I would particularly welcome applications focusing on the following topics:

Energy Security

Projects that look to examine the role of discourses, perceptions and identity in the construction of energy issues as security concerns.  I am also interested in projects that seek to examine different meanings of energy security in concrete political contexts.

Securitisation Theory

Projects that seek to apply securitisation theory to new cases, contexts and issues.

Post-Brexit Security Policy and/or Crisis Management

Projects that look to examine the development of new forms of UK-EU cooperation in the broad areas of security and crisis management policy are especially welcome.

Energy Policy at the EU and/or Member State levels

I am open to supervising students focusing on any substantive area of energy policy, particularly in the EU.  I have particular expertise on the internal energy market, EU-Russian energy relations and gas markets.

Taught Postgraduate

• European and International Security Strategies
• International Security and Strategic Studies
• Human Rights in a Global Perspective

Undergraduate

• Global Energy Politics
• Olive Tree Initiative field-trip
• Introduction to International Relations

• Convenor of the Politics and International Relations teaching cluster
• Adviser of Studies

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