Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR)

Profile

My PhD project analyses the transparency of expertise in European policy making. Specifically, the project looks at the role of the European Commission's expert advisory groups. These groups advise across policy areas and at all stages of the policy-making process and are largely composed of individuals appointed in a personal capacity or as representatives of national administrations. However, a significant number of individual experts are also drawn from trade, business or civil society organisations and frequently act in a 'dual-hatted' role: as Commission expert advisors and interest group advocates at the Parliament. The project considers the effectiveness of transparency measures in ameliorating this (potential) conflict of interests.

Qualifications

• 2011 University of Portsmouth. Postgraduate Diploma in Social Research Methods (Distinction) 
• 2010 University of Portsmouth. Masters in Public Administration (Distinction) 
• 2008 University of Portsmouth. BA (Hons) International Relations and Politics (2:1)

Research Clusters

• Transnational Europe

Discipline Areas

• Politics, Policy and Public Administration

Research CV

Current Research Projects

• Ph.D: The transparency of expert representation in EU policy making

Papers Given

• Sep 2012.  Transparency and the electronic registers: the case of the Commission Expert Groups.  Presented at the 42nd annual UACES conference, University of Passau. 
• June 2012. The antiseptic of sunlight? EU Transparency and the electronic registers: the case of the Commission Expert Groups. Joint paper (with Dr. Karen Heard-Laureote) presented at the Transatlantic Conference on Transparency Research, University of Utrecht. 
• June 2012. Experts or lobbyists? Examining tensions in European networks. Joint paper (with Christopher Huggins and Ed Stoddard) presented at the Centre for European and International Studies Research, University of Portsmouth. 
• June 2012. Identifying centrality in the expert groups: transparency and the electronic registers. Presented at the UACES student conference, Brussels School of International Studies. 
• November 2011. Governance by experts? The workings of the European Commission's advisory groups. Presented at the PSA graduate conference, University of Oxford. 
• September 2011. Knowledge is Power? Influence and cooperation in the EU commission's Expert Groups. Presented at the UACES annual conference, University of Cambridge. 
• July 2011. Cooperation, Compliance and Coalitions within the EU Commission's Expert Groups. Presented at the UACES annual student conference, University of Surrey. 
• May 2011. Inclusion and exclusion in the EU expert groups. Presented at the CEISR annual postgraduate research conference, University of Portsmouth. 

Grants Received

• 2010-2013: PhD Studentship awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council.