Department of Politics

Learn more about the study options and research in the Department of Politics.

Why Politics at Sussex

The Politics Department was ranked ranked 7th in the UK by the Times Higher Education for our research outputs in Area Studies in the last seven-yearly UK-wide Research Excellence Framework.

Our courses help to prepare you for jobs in fields such as parliamentary or think-tank research, campaign management for pressure groups or non-governmental organisations, lobbying, print or broadcast journalism, the civil service and the UN. 

You will be taught about journalism and be tutored in your political communication writing by our Political Writer in Residence, Chief Political Correspondent at The Times, Aubrey Allegretti.

You will be taught by staff recognised for their outstanding teaching.

You will benefit from our staff's research focus, with the department hosting two world-leading research centres:

  • the  (which how hosts the Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence programme (GI ACE), after signing signed a grant with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to fund new research into global corruption). Our Centre for Corruption was awarded £3.4 million by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to fund new research into global corruption.
  • the .

Outreach and participation

The Department of Politics regularly visits state schools and invites students and teachers to talk about our research and courses.

We are particularly committed to widening participation in our degrees to young people who typically experience barriers in progressing on to higher education.

We also regularly work with non-academic partners and practitioners to maximise the impact of our research. We collaborate to design research agendas, conduct policy-relevant research and share research findings broadly with our partners and their networks.

In the UK we work with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Cabinet Office, House of Commons Select Committees and all major political parties. We also work with NGOs such as Transparency International and the Electoral Reform Society (ERS).

Our international partners include the European Commission, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Labour Organization and the Jamaican and Australian anti-corruption agencies.

  • You will be taught about journalism and be tutored in your political communication writing by our Political Writer in Residence, Chief Political Correspondent at The Times, Aubrey Allegretti.