In today's episode, we interview Baris Celik from the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. In his PhD research, Baris examines the crisis management operations of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). We learned about the research of Baris, his findings with regard to what drives certain policy decisions in situations of international conflict, as well as how he conducted the semi-structured interviews for his research and how he found his research participants.

We also learn about how Baris has been combining research and teaching, and his best advice for those who embark on research using qualitative methods. We get an overview of what the timeline of the PhD looks like in politics in the UK. To round off the interview, we also learn how Baris sets boundaries to work, how COVID-19 has impacted his daily tasks, his best advice for PhD students, and what a day in the life looks like.

References

• Assistant Lecturer profile at the School of Politics & International Relations,  University of Kent
• ORCID profile
• (2021). The “5,000-kilometre screwdriver”: German and French police training in Afghanistan through the EU and NATO, Global Affairs, (online first).
•  (2020). Foreign policy decision-making in operational overlap: the UK’s policing assistance in Afghanistan through the EU and NATO, European Security 29(4), pp. 456-482.
• Baris' blog on research and teaching experiences
• Qualitative Research Guidelines Project:  Semi-Structured Interviews
• Designing a semi-structured interview guide for qualitative interviews