News heads of department: Professor Patrick Baert and Professor David Runciman.
Professor Patrick Baert and Professor David Runciman are the new heads of the Department of Sociology and the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), respectively.
Baert grew up in Brussels, coming to the UK for his PhD at the University of Oxford. Although his initial work was in social theory and philosophy of social science, his recent work has been more historical. His forthcoming book, The existentialist moment: the rise of Sartre as a public intellectual, explores the intellectual landscape of the 1940s in France and seeks to explain why Sartre suddenly became such an influential figure in the mid-1940s.
“I hope to be able to provide a structure in which especially our junior colleagues can thrive,” he said. “I would like us to extend our international networks, given that innovative and significant research in the social sciences increasingly depends on such collaborative networks. Within the University, I would like us to make productive links and collaborations with other departments and faculties.”
The Department of Sociology's strengths, Baert believes, lie in the excellence and diversity of its work. “The core faculty is relatively small but we have expertise in a wide range of areas. We are diverse both in terms of subject matter and method,” he said. “We also have a healthy stream of research projects and grants in various areas.”
David Runciman, Professor of Politics and Fellow of Trinity Hall, takes over as Head of Department of POLIS on 1 October. A political theorist specialising in the history of modern political thought and theories of democracy and the state, his books include The politics of good intentions, Political hypocrisy and The confidence trap, and he is currently joint Principal Investigator on two major research projects at CRASSH: Conspiracy and democracy and Digital society.
A writer on a wide variety of topics, his article on Lance Armstrong and the doping conspiracy inside professional cycling is the inspiration behind the forthcoming film Icon, directed by Stephen Frears.
Believing that POLIS' strengths stem from its diversity, he said: “We are not associated with any particular school in the study of politics or international relations – and in the fact that we see the academic study of politics as being informed by real world events as they unfold in real time.”
As well as establishing a more secure base for graduate funding and seeing POLIS expand as a home for postdoctoral students, Runciman wants to develop the Department's public policy programme. “The hope is that we can develop a public policy research centre that builds on many of Cambridge’s unique strengths in this field, making the link between social and political science and the work being done in such fields as medicine, environmental science and computer science,” he added.
Image credit: Patrick Baert (L), David Runciman (R).