Dahrendorf Scholars and Essays

Each year three St Antony’s students are selected by a competitive process to work on the Research Agenda of the Programme and to undertake a piece of independent research on a subject related to the study of freedom. The scholars are selected on the basis of written applications, and interviews when necessary, by a committee of Fellows of the College. Among their obligations is to write a free-form essay on a topic of their choice. Click on the links below to read Dahrendorf essays from previous years.

The 2022-23 Dahrendorf Scholars

Abid Adonis

Abid is a DPhil student at the Oxford Internet Institute, supervised by Professor Luciano Floridi. His research aims to understand digital sovereignty as an idea and practice, particularly how digital sovereignty reshapes international politics, among great powers. His other research interests include international relations and technology, the politics of cyberspace, and digital statecraft.

Essay title: Ordering the Digital World: Europe and the Global South in Digital Politics

Julia Carver

Julia is a DPhil student in International Relations, under the supervision of Dr Robert Johnson and Professor Dominic Johnson. Her research explores the interplay between geopolitical strategic thought, sovereignty, and the development of cybersecurity policy by the European Union. Given that her research is concerned with the EU’s strategic behaviour in cyberspace, she is also eager to understand how the EU’s relationships with other actors (as well as the goals of its own Member States in that policy domain) have shaped relevant EU policy developments.

Essay title: to be confirmed

Olivier de France

Olivier is a DPhil student in international relations, under the supervision of Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis. He is interested in the history of European political thinking, and the implications it holds for the Old Continent’s present political and geopolitical shifts. In his doctoral work, he looks more specifically at the ideas of Benedict Spinoza and their legacy.

Essay title: to be confirmed

Talia Kollek

Talia is a DPhil student in Area Studies (with a focus on Russia and East European Studies), supervised by Dr Nicolette Mackovicky. Her research focuses on civil society in Russia and Eastern Europe. Over the past decade, restrictions around the world have resulted in a ‘shrinking space’ for civil society. Talia’s research investigates how organisations navigate increasingly challenging environments to continue their work, and how governing bodies such as the EU can support these efforts.

Essay title: ‘So-Call Gender Freedoms’: The Western Origins of Russian Transphobia

Alexandra Solovyev

Alexandra is a DPhil candidate in History of Art, supervised by Professor Alastair Wright. Her doctoral research is focused on the visual culture of the British railways in Ottoman Anatolia during the nineteenth century. She is also interested in policy around the repatriation of artworks and cultural artefacts and in the historical origins of these contemporary issues.

Essay title: British Repatriation of Cultural Property from the Nineteenth Century to Today

Ruihan Zhu

Ruihan is an MPhil student in Development Studies. Her research interests include the political economy of development, sustainable development, and rural-urban linkages. Her current research focuses on the ontological debates around climate change and the critique of mainstream development ideas. In her MPhil thesis, Ruihan examines the impact of green transformation on local communities in China, especially its interconnection with gender equality, poverty reduction, and the digital economy.

Essay title: to be confirmed

Iyone Agboraw

Identity: Betwixt Silence, Choice, and Fear

Laura Ballerini

Can Medical Humanitarianism Ever Be Neutral?

David Saveliev

False Promises and Real Hopes: What the Belarusian Protests of 2020 Can Tell Europe

The 2020 Dahrendorf Scholars

The 2019 Dahrendorf Scholars

Jihane Benamar

Never Again the “Gendarme of Europe”? Morocco’s Changing Regional Role and the Migration Question

Maeve Moynihan

Project Ireland 2040: The Freedom of Movement in Ireland’s Future Vision of Itself

Auguste Breteau

In Defence of European Border Policies? Integrated Border Management, Development without Accountability, and the Role of European Partners in the Securitisation of Lebanon

The 2018 Dahrendorf Scholars

Robert Gorwa

GLASNOST! Nine Ways Facebook Can Make Itself a Better Forum for Free Speech and Democracy

Yasmina Abouzzohour

Red Lines in the Kingdoms of Benevolent Dictators: The Role of Freedom of Speech in the Potential Pathways to Democracy in Different Authoritarian Settings