Research focus within MERCURY
Within MERCURY, Nur will be working on the external dimension of EU immigration and asylum policy, as well as migration management and the Maghreb.

Short C.V.
Nur is a PhD Candidate in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. She is also Research Assistant in the MERCURY Project. She received her MA in Comparative Politics from the University of York in 2006, and completed her BSc in Biology (with a minor in Political Studies) at the American University of Beirut in 2005.  

Her PhD research examines, broadly, the link between migration and development policy as part of the European Union’s external relations. She is particularly interested in how this policy area has evolved within the Commission, and how it has translated into relations with the Mediterranean since the launch of the Barcelona Process in 1995.

E-Mail: n.abdelkhaliq(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website: www.pol.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile

Research focus within MERCURY
Coordinator of MERCURY; EU in the systems of regions

Short C.V
Mark’s main research interests are in international and comparative political economy, and especially the domestic sources of government policy choice in international cooperation and the domestic effect of regional integration. His current research concerns comparative regionalism and political integration in NAFTA. He has published in numerous scholarly journals, including British Journal of Political Science, Review of International Studies and Political Studies. His most recent book is Rethinking Britain and Europe (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004).

Mark has held visiting positions at ITAM (Mexico City), the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University, Peoples University in Beijing, and the European University Institute (Florence), and has lectured at the NATO Defense College, the University of Havana, and Peking University, among others. He is an editorial board member of the journal European Union Politics.

E-Mail: mark.aspinwall(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website: www.pol.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile

Research focus within MERCURY
The ‘external dimension’ of EU immigration and asylum policy; attempts to export/outsource migration control to Europe’s neighbours.

Short C.V
Christina Boswell is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on European migration policy, theories of public policy, and knowledge utilisation in policy-making. She recently completed a major EU project on ‘Expanding the Knowledge-Base of European Labour Migration Policies’ (KNOWMIG) (see   here)

Christina is author of 4 monographs: European Migration Policies in Flux (Blackwell's 2003), The Ethics of Refugee Policy (Ashgate 2005), The Political Uses of Expert Knowledge (Cambridge University Press, 2009), and Migration and Mobility in the European Union (Palgrave, forthcoming 2009, co-authored with Andrew Geddes). She has published around 20 articles, including in the Journal of European Public Policy, West European Politics, Journal of Common Market Studies and International Affairs.

E-Mail: christina.boswell(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website: www.pol.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile

Research focus within MERCURY
Caroline Bouchard’s work in MERCURY explores and elaborates the conceptual and theoretical approaches to multilateralism and assesses the EU’s performance in a multilateral context. Caroline is also involved in management activities.

Short C.V.
Dr. Caroline Bouchard is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in September 2008. Her thesis investigated the EU’s effectiveness at the UN in the policy area of human security. It examined three case studies: the fight against landmines; the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons; and the involvement of children in armed conflict. Her research and teaching interests include the European Union as a global actor, the EU at the United Nations, international relations, human rights and human security.

E-Mail: c.bouchard(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website: www.pol.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile

Research focus within MERCURY
Within MERCURY, Chad Damro examines the externalisation of internal EU policies – understood as attempts to encourage or coerce third countries to adopt norms and approaches already embraced by the EU – in particular, market-related policies.

Short C.V.
In addition to Senior Lecturer of Politics and International Relations, Chad is Co-Director of the Europa Institute at the University of Edinburgh. He is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. Chad has served as a Policy Analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Leuven's Institute for European and International Policy, a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, a Center Associate at the University of Pittsburgh's EU Center, a Visiting Scholar at Texas A&M University and an EU Fulbright Scholar at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In 2006, Chad was awarded the Sir Bernard Crick prize (New Entrant) for excellence in teaching by the UK's Political Studies Association.

E-Mail: chad.damro(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website: www.pol.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile

Research focus within MERCURY
Caroline Laffey is Project Administrator in the Mercury Management Office and will oversee general management activities during the project.

E-Mail: caroline.laffey(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website:  www.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile

Research focus within MERCURY
Research Director of MERCURY; Theorizing Multilateralism

Short C.V.
Before joining Edinburgh in 2005, John Peterson held posts at the Universities of Glasgow, York, Essex, Oxford, and the University of California (Santa Barbara). He has also held visiting posts at the Universities of Vienna, Paris, California (Berkeley), University College Dublin, the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), and the College of Europe (Bruges).

John is presently working on US-European relations, particularly the 3rd edition of his book ‘Europe and America’, for Rowman and Littlefield. He is also researching EU external policy – particularly trade and foreign policy - and the role of the European Commission in the EU’s institutional system. On the latter project, he is leading an international team funded under the EU's Framework 6 EU-Consent programme (http://www.eu-consent.net/) conducting a 4-year research programme on 'The Commission and the European Civil Service'.

His recent publications include: The European Union and the New Trade Politics (co-edited with Alasdair Young, Routledge, 2007), The Institutions of the European Union (co-edited with Michael Shackleton, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2006), and Security Strategy and Transatlantic Relations (co-edited with Roland Dannreuther, Routledge, 2006). Others include 'Europe, America, Bush' (co-edited with Mark A. Pollack, Routledge, 2003) and 'Decision-Making in the European Union' (co-authored with Elizabeth Bomberg, Palgrave, 1999).

John is co-editor (with Helen Wallace) of the  ‘New European Union’ series for Oxford University Press.

E-Mail: john.peterson(at)ed(dot)ac(dot)uk

Website: www.pol.ed.ac.uk/    Personal Profile