The podcast has been on its summer break over the last few months, but politics certainly hasn’t stopped. The war in Ukraine has rumbled on. The global energy crisis, partly a result of the war, has forced policymakers to rethink how energy markets work. The energy crisis intersects with efforts to tackle the climate crisis, which have in some ways intensified in the wake of last year’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow. In the UK, Boris Johnson was forced out as Prime Minster and replaced by Liz Truss. And just days after Truss entered office, the death of Queen Elizabeth made headlines around the world.

To discuss these issues and more, we’re joined by a trio of top professors from the UCL Department of Political Science.

• Kristin Bakke is Professor of Political Science and International Relations. She heads our Conflict and Change research cluster, and, among other things, she is currently an investigator on a collaborative research project exploring geopolitical orientations in Russia’s near abroad.
• Lisa Vanhala is Professor of Political Science and works on the politics of climate change and the socio-legal study of human rights and equality. She is currently leading a major research project examining the politics of climate change loss and damage.
• Meg Russell is Professor of British and Comparative Politics and Director of the UCL Constitution Unit. She is leading the Unit’s current project on Constitutional Principles and the Health of Democracy. And her latest book, The Parliamentary Battle over Brexit, will be published by Oxford University Press in March next year.

UCL’s Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including international relations, political theory, human rights, public policy-making and administration. The Department is recognised for its world-class research and policy impact, ranking among the top departments in the UK on both the 2021 Research Excellence Framework and the latest Guardian rankings.