About the Society
The Bristol University International Affairs Society (IAS) was founded in June 2004 by a few year Economics and Politics undergraduate students and is membership-based. The IAS is free of all government and political interests. The views expressed by our guest speakers are not necessarily the views of the society.
The main aims of the society are to:
- Promote awareness of political and economic issues in the international arena, in the University;
- Organise events that will give members the opportunity to participate in discussion and debates of these issues;
- Organise regular academic talks to the members about current international issues;
- Provide a monthly online journal similar to that produced by research institutes to members about current international affairs;
- Get people interested in international political and economic issues.
Activities
- We are organising a series of talks by lecturers, post-graduate students, political theorists and media writers to raise awareness of particular political and economic issues in the international arena;
- Various students undertake research in specific areas of interest, for example, Foreign Policy and the Middle East, globalisation, humanitarian intervention, the arms trade, and the role of multinationals in developing countries;
- Essays and reports on research undertaken will be published in a regular online journal which will be available to all members.
- Interviews with distinguished members of academia and political theorists will be undertaken by the research branch of the society and will be published on the website on a regular basis.
- Through our graduate and interns' network, members will get the chance to talk to past interns from NGOs, charity organisations, and politicians as well as get valuable information on upcoming internships and vacant positions within the field of International Relations.
- Members will also be able to go on training sessions organised by The Economist in London, where they will get the chance to talk to the magazine editors and writers.
We hope that:
- By forming an International Affairs Society in the University of Bristol, we hope that the students will get the chance to engage in important issues that are currently shaping international politics;
- Through the International Affairs Society, students will be encouraged to make a well-informed judgement on critical international political and economic issues.