Lukas Seibert is a DPhil (PhD) candidate in Politics at the Department of Politics and International Relations. In his doctoral thesis, titled Essays on Legislators’ Second Jobs, he investigates how transparency regulations affect lawmakers’ extra-parliamentary activities and public perceptions, and how remunerated side jobs influence their behaviour within parliament. By exploring these dynamics, his work sheds light on broader questions of transparency and accountability in legislative bodies.

Graham Higgins is studying for his DPhil in Politics at St Johns College, Oxford under the supervision of Dr Ranjit Lall. His thesis, “Budget Execution: Examining Congress’ hidden hand in US foreign policy” intends to expose the ways in which Congress has rapidly expanded its power over the President’s foreign policy agenda via its suite of oversight tools.

Conor Walsh is an MPhil Political Theory student at the DPIR. Prior to studying at Oxford, Conor attended University College London where he graduated with first-class honours in BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics with Social Data Science.

Elle (short for Samu/elle) Striewski is an incoming DPhil student in Political Theory at the Department of Politics and International Relations. Their doctoral studies are generously funded by the Rhodes Scholarship and the David N. Lyon Scholarship in Politics, awarded by Oriel College to support research into ‘the politics of sex and gender identities in diverse societies’.