Students with a passion for politics showcased the depth and breadth of their research on topics ranging from the Cold War to Conservative voting patterns.
The Department of Politics and Public Policy at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) offers a range of programmes including joint honours in Politics, International Relations and History and Politics.
Every year, final year students are challenged to hone their research skills and put together academic posters to show their dissertation topics. Students are quizzed by academics and guests from Leicester City Council.
All the posters were displayed at The Venue at DMU and students invited to a celebration dinner with lecturers.
Zeena Mistry, Politics student, chose to look at the voting patterns of British Indian voters in Leicester East constituency, which saw a swing to the Conservatives after MP Keith Vaz stepped down. She said: “I was interested in the values that British Indians are brought up with, that opportunities follow hard work and you don’t get anything for nothing, are close to those of the Conservatives and that they have changed their voting. It’s something I’ve seen in my own family and I wanted to see if it was others’ experience, too.”
Fumnanya Ukah, who is studying International Relations, studied the role of sport in helping keeping young people out of crime. She said: “Sport can bring about a positive change. Young people feel left behind and I’ve found evidence of links between sport and feeling included, gaining in confidence. I’m interested in working in this area once I graduate.”
Sarah Weyi, politics and international relations, tackled the difficult topic of rape in wartime. Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she is from, is often used as weapon of war. She said: “I’m Congolese, and we are known as the rape capital of the world. It is a harsh reality. Because of the subject matter a lot of the information has been from journal research but it has been upsetting to read. It makes you grateful to realise what people have gone through.”
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The issue of increasing segregation in American schools has been examined by Laura Braithwaite, studying History and Politics, as part of a wider look at US education policy. She said: “I’ve enjoyed the process of putting this together, it’s been difficult because the information comes from different angles, so there is a lot to sieve through but I like a challenge.”
Frazer Abbiss studied the Cold War and lessons learned. He said: “I chose it because I find it one of the most interesting periods, but doing an academic poster is tricky because there’s so much you want to include. It’s been a good process to go through and we have had support from our tutors.”
Ros Lishman, Associate Professor in Politics at DMU, said: “The annual dissertation poster show is a great way for our students to showcase their work in the final year of their studies on a range of politics and international relations degrees.
“The students are always apprehensive about designing and creating a poster, but as you can see from the work on display they have nothing to worry about! With a little bit of guidance students are able to develop their digital capabilities and creativity skills.”
Posted on Tuesday 18 February 2020