Gareth Davis is a graduate of the University of St Andrews, where he graduated with an MLitt in Terrorism and Political Violence from the University’s prestigious Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. As an undergraduate he studied at the University of Glasgow, majoring in English Literature and Politics. Gareth’s research interests focus on the intersection between political violence and wider cultural themes. He has taught a course with Oxbridge Academic Programs St Andrews summer school on Terrorism Studies that encompassed global political themes and the applicability of International Relations Theory to these ideas. In September he will be starting his PhD at the University of Glasgow where he will be studying narratives of radicalisation.

Elle Pfeffer is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and a member of Worcester College. Her research focuses on the interaction of welfare state politics and criminal justice systems in Europe and the United States. She has previously taught tutorials in Comparative Political Economy for undergraduate students. Elle holds an MPhil in Politics: Comparative Government from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in International Studies and Writing Seminars with honors from Johns Hopkins University.”

Emre Caliskan is reading for a DPhil in International Relations at St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. He taught Middle East Politics and International Relations courses at the University of Oxford. His dissertation explores the role of Turkish Islamic non-state actors in Turkey’s foreign policy making in Sub-Saharan Africa. His other interests include Turkey’s transnational Islam, Turkish foreign policy, and Islamic NGOs in International Relations. He holds an MA in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London and is the co-author, with Simon A. Waldman, of The ‘New Turkey’ and its Discontents (2016) which assesses social, religious and political polarisation under Recep Erdoğan’s AKP and the likely consequences for Turkey’s evolution. A Turkish analyst and freelance journalist, Emre has worked for the BBC Turkish service, Cumhuriyet, Newsweek Turkey and the Turkish public broadcaster Türkiye Radyo Televizyon (TRT), as a foreign correspondent based in Ankara, Damascus, Beijing and London. His commentaries are picked up by Open Democracy, Al Monitor and Haaretz.

Hochan “Sonny” Kim is currently reading for the B.Phil in Philosophy at University of Oxford, where he is focusing on political philosophy. He previously attended Brown University, where he attained dual Bachelor degrees in Philosophy and in Political Science. Prior to Oxford Summer Courses, Sonny worked for various academic summer programs in the U.S., including a Summer at Brown and Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.