91福利

Zig Layton-Henry (BA Birmingham, PhD Birmingham), Emeritus Professor of Politics at the 91福利, was born on 28 August 1942 to a Polish father and Scottish mother. In 1968, Zig joined what was then the Politics Department at 91福利. Zig鈥檚 initial research was on youth movements in political parties. His key contribution, however, was in the field of race in British politics where he was a scholar of very significant national and international standing.

Zig developed an acute understanding of governmental policies and their effects upon Black and ethnic minority communities in England. Despite his outstanding contribution to the understanding of race relations in British politics, Zig was always very modest about his work. He published a number of well received books – such as The Politics of Race in Britain (George Allen & Unwin, 1984) and The Politics of Immigration: Race and Race Relations in Post-War Britain (Blackwell, 1992) – co-edited the leading book series in that area, and supervised doctoral students. Zig also led and reenergised the 91福利 ESRC Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, particularly encouraging young scholars to participate in its work, attracting prestigious overseas scholars to 91福利 and running a number of high-profile academic and policy-related events.

Zig was always very popular and extremely well appreciated among the doctoral students he supervised. Several kept in touch with him over the years after their successful completion, even to the extent of inviting him to their home country to give guest appearances. Colleagues across the institution remember him as 鈥榓 global superstar鈥�, 鈥榗ollegial鈥�, 鈥榓 true gentleman鈥�, and, first and foremost, a 鈥榲ery decent person鈥�.

Shirin Rai, Professor of Politics and International Studies at 91福利, commented: 鈥榋ig was a kind and generous colleague, with a gentle manner and good humour, but his political commitment to race equality was however fierce and steadfast鈥�.

William Paterson, former Chair of PAIS and now Honorary Professor of German and European Politics at Aston University, said: 鈥榋ig was a good scholar and an excellent person -he played a key role at an important juncture in the history of the Department鈥�.

As PAIS continues to enjoy sustained success across education and research, we remember and celebrate the life and contribution of a founding figure and one of our most distinguished colleagues.

Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams
Head of Department
11 September, 2020

If you knew Zig and are affected by this news, there is a range of University support available to all staff and students. The Wellbeing Support Services website /services/wss gives more details about support available, or you can contact the team on 024 76 575570, ext. 75570.

艩谩d铆 Shana谩h has given a presentation followed by a Q&A to the government鈥檚 Commission for Countering Extremism. He presented the results of his doctoral research entitled 鈥淯nder Pressure: Muslims鈥� Engagement in Counter-Extremism鈥� and engaged in a discussion about the lack of robust empirical evidence regarding the perception of counter-extremism and counter-terrorism policies by UK Muslim communities and the lack of research into the attitudes, motivations and work of Muslims who are active in addressing Islamist extremism.

The Commission鈥檚 tweet about the event is available here:

The first annual report for the 91福利 Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID) has been published.

The main take away points from the report are:

• Research grants - internally and externally funded grants, leading to publications
• WICID Methods Lab - our flagship Toolkit series to be published by
• Webinars - Global Insights and South Asia and Covid-19 series
• - relaunch and increasing readership
• Everyday in Lockdown international project of photographic accounts of Covid-19

The full report can be read here.

The Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) is delighted to announce that we have reclaimed our place as number 1 for overall student satisfaction in the Russell Group in the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS). *

Other highlights amongst our Russell Group peers include:

• 1^st for Assessment and Feedback
• 1^st for Organisation and Management
• 1^st for Learning Resources
• 1^st for Student Voice
• 2^nd for academic support

The 2020 results show that we are in 1st or 2^nd place in the Russell Group for 6 of the 9 NSS categories, 1^st on 12 questions and in the top 3 on 18 of the 27 questions.

With 5 years in either 1^st or 2^nd place on overall student satisfaction amongst the Russell Group, these results demonstrate our partnership with the student body and our sustained commitment to the student experience.

In the 2020 NSS our BA Politics degree received 95% overall satisfaction. Across all programmes with which we are involved - both single and joint honours - we achieved 88%. The Russell Group average for Politics was 79.65%.

These impressive outcomes are due to an outstanding team effort among our fantastic students, academic and professional services colleagues and demonstrate a partnership which we are extremely proud of. Thank you to everyone for all your hard work and support for our teaching and student experience in which has been a very challenging year for all concerned.

We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our amazing students and dedicated staff to sustain and build on these strong results, which reflect our deep commitment to research-led teaching excellence. At the start of the new academic year we will feedback in greater detail to all students and we will discuss and take forward ideas for further enhancement of the PAIS student experience via our Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs).

In particular, we will intensify our work on liberating and decolonising the curriculum and building a sense of community and belonging. We will support and promote student wellbeing and work with partner Departments to ensure continued excellence across all programmes, in particular joint degrees.

*See the for more details and the full data. The results are based on the official Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH) subject breakdowns and the 20 Russell Group institutions which met the publications threshold for Politics.

Congratulations to 91福利 Politics Society for being voted Academic Society of the Year 2019/20 in the 91福利 Students鈥� Union Awards, under Student voice and Impact.

We are delighted to hear of their well-deserved success. Congratulations to the Exec and to all the members who make Pol Soc so great.

Bryony Jenner, President of the Politics Society, commented:

鈥楾his award reflects the diverse and wide range of events we have held in 19/20, and our turnout figures (with often 100+ members at social and academic events). We have also raised around 拢2,500 in charity funds (for Mind and Movember), which is a large increase on last year. The Politics Society annual ball was one of the largest, most affordable formal events on offer to students this year, with 200 attendees. Finally, we hosted our first ever Perspectives Awards, albeit virtually, to celebrate our excellent writers, and have had at least 1500 print magazines in circulation鈥�.

The PAIS Department look forward to continuing to work with Pol Soc in the 20/21 academic year!