Que Anh Dang wins competition for Excellent Paper from an Emerging Scholar

PhD fellow Que Anh Dang wins competition for paper presented at the ECPR General Conference in Prague 2016.

Que Anh Dang at the recent graduation ceremony at the University of Bristol. Photos by Farah Deeba.

Que Anh’s paper entitled ‘The Bologna and ASEM Education Secretariats: Authority of Transnational Actor in Regional Higher Education Policy-Making’ has been awarded the prize of ‘Excellent Paper from an Emerging Scholar’ by the Standing Group on The Politics of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of the European Council for Political Research (ECPR). The paper was presented at the ECPR General Conference in September 2016 in Prague and entered the inter-disciplinary competition of emerging scholar papers.

The assessment from the ECPR Standing Group is as follows:

"This paper examines the role of the Bologna and ASEM education secretariats, and argues that they are political actors in their own right. The paper is located in the wider regions/IR literature, and this literature is used with confidence and clarity. The Panel was impressed with the way in which the paper drew on a rich empirical base enabling Dang to provide a complex and compelling account of the secretariats, and how they derive their authority and use it to influence region building. The Panel agreed unanimously that the structure of the paper was tight, and the justification and use of the theoretical resources to develop the argument was clear, and that the paper unfolded in a well-organised way.

The judges noted the ways in which Dang engaged critically with her main theoretical sources (especially Barnett & Finnemore) by contrasting them with the particularities of her cases.  The Panel also pointed to the fact that the paper goes beyond comparing two institutional set ups to create a dynamic account. By investigating the processes, practices, and materials mobilised in particular by the ASEM secretariat to create authority, they feel that the paper produces really interesting insights about the politics in transnational higher education policy in particular and hybrid expert institutions more generally. The paper also responds directly to the aims and objectives of the Standing Group. With very little editing, this paper is suitable for publishing in an international refereed journal."

The judging panel comprised of: Dr Thomas Pfister (University of Zeppelin), Professor Susan Robertson (University of Cambridge), and Professor Bjørn Stensaker (University of Oslo).

The paper has been accepted and will be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal in the near future.

Many congratulations to Que Anh from the UNIKE team!

Read more about Que Anh Dang's recent co-edited book Global Regionalisms and Higher Education: Projects, Processes, Politics and her research on ASEM (The Asia-Europe Meeting).