Saskia Poulter

I am an MPhil student in Comparative Government at Hertford College, Oxford. My research focusses on how energy sanctions shape trade dependencies among autocratic states, with a particular focus on the role of clandestine ’dark shipments’. I am keenly interested in political methodology and, in my thesis, hope to explore the application of machine learning and geospatial imaging techniques for the detection of illicit maritime trade.

Prior to coming to Oxford, I received a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Durham Univeristy, where I ranked first in my cohort and was a Laidlaw Scholar. I worked for a year in the UK Home Office’s migration research unit, and have interned at a political data science/polling consultancy. My previous academic work drew heavily on natural language processing (NLP) techniques, and I continue to provide paid assistance for NLP-based research and commercial projects. I am currently a Policy Research Fellow at the Young Fabians and a Global Politics Editor at the Oxford Political Review.