October 2026
Prof. Kelly awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant
Prof. Stephen Kelly was recently awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant SRG for the 2026 (Sept.) Round.
The award totals £7,640.00.
This award will support Stephen's latest research project, which analyses U.K. prime minister John Major's contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process during the 1990s.
The title of the project is: ‘A better future’: John Major and the Northern Ireland peace process, 1990-1997.
This two-year research project represents the third and final phase of Stephen's ongoing research on the Conservative Party and Northern Ireland, 1968-1998. To date, he has completed separate monographs on the contributions of Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath to the U.K. government’s Northern Ireland policy. This new research project, focusing on John Major, is the final instalment of this trilogy and will form the basis of his final monograph, The Conservative Party leadership and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1969-1998: 'No textbook solutions' (under contract: Bloomsbury, 2029).
On receiving this award, Prof. Kelly expressed sincere gratitude to the Liverpool Hope community for supporting his research endeavours and, in particular, to Dr Allison Elliott-Shannon, Hope's Research and Innovation Facilitator, and Stephen's colleagues within the School of Humanities.
Funding Success from Royal Institute of Philosophy to Support Public Guest Lecture Series
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Dr Robert Booth has recently won funding from the Royal Institute of Philosophy to support a public-facing guest lecture series focusing on marginal and marginalised philosophies. The lecture series - innovatively called the 'Royal Institute of Philosophy Guest Lecture Series' - will take place on campus at Hope Park, running from December 2026 to April 2027 and will be open to all.
Confirmed contributors and topics include - Danielle Sands (Royal Holloway) on plant philosophy; Komarine Romdenh-Romluc (Sheffield) on Fanon and liberation; Havi Carel (Bristol) on 'philosophy of illness', and our very own Steven Shakespeare who will be speaking about the topic of his forthcoming monograph – ‘black metal theology'.
Keep an eye out for further updates!
Dr Salman Al-Azami’s Article on ‘Gendered Islamophobia in Response to BBC TV Drama ‘Bodyguard’ is Published in Journal of European Popular Culture
Dr Salman Al-Azami's paper, 'Gendered Islamophobia in BBC TV Drama Bodyguard' has recently been published in the 'Journal of European Popular Culture' (JEPC).
The TV series Bodyguard (2018) was one of the most-watched TV dramas in the United Kingdom. The thriller centres around a British army war veteran who gets entangled in a series of terror plots spearheaded by a hijabi woman whose identity as the terrorist ringleader is revealed at the very end of the six-part miniseries.
This article examines the racial securitization of Muslims and gendered Islamophobia in the representation of Muslim characters in Bodyguard through the portrayal of a hijabi Muslim woman, underpinned by the intersectionality of Islamophobia, gendered Islamophobia and critical race theory. This article argues that at a time when hijabi Muslim women face the majority of Islamophobic hate crimes, a popular TV drama’s depiction of this vulnerable group as perpetrators of violence not only distorts the reality but also creates a negative image of Muslim women in hijab, further alienating them from the mainstream British society.
Further information can be found HERE.
