RAE result

The Research Assessment Exercise results came out today and ranked the Sussex European Institute as joint second best in the country for European studies. So that's really good, and it should mean in the medium to long term more resources. It would be nice if it had some impact on my chances of getting funding for my DPhil, but I doubt it will!

DPhil application

Did my online application to Sussex for my DPhil place today. An important step!

Funding proposal

Had supervision the other day and received lots of detailed feedback on my research funding proposal. So much work to do on it ! The meeting did leave me feeling a little intellectually bruised though.

Which is fine, as I now have until mid Jan til my next supervision meeting - so a good month to work on it. I know the time until it has to be submitted (around mid March I think) will go very quickly, and I'll have next term's MSc coursework to do as well.

Tuition fee rebate

Pleased to discover that as a Sussex alumnus I will get a 300 quid rebate on my MSc tuition fees, payable in January.

Spending more money on books

Recent purchases from Blackwells in Oxford:

'Comparative Politics' - B Guy Peters

'Kosovo: What everyone needs to know' - Tim Judah

'Turkey Decoded' - Ann Dismorr

I'm keen to get a quick handle on some of the potential case study countries. Having read a few about Turkey, I could do with finding some accessible introductions to Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine.