Academic staff joined former heads of department, alumni and members of the professional services team on 25 January to look back on a decade, plus a little more, since the foundation of political economy as a department.

The official 10-year anniversary was 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic meant the celebration was delayed.

There were two panel discussions on the night; the first looked back at the formative years of the department and featured former department heads Professor Mark Pennington and Professor Jeremy Jennings along with Dr Santiago Sanchez Pages and chair Dr Nima Paidipaty.

The second panel looked ahead to the future for political economy and welcomed former department head Dr John Meadowcroft along with Professor Humeira Iqtidar, Dr Mona Morgan-Collins, and chair Cristina Zheng Ji.

There were also some musical interludes orchestrated by Professor Anja Shortland along with current students and staff members.

The Department of Political Economy began life in 2010 under the stewardship of Professor Ken Young and with just two undergraduate programmes. It has since grown into one of King’s College London’s largest departments, with an academic staff of more than 80 and more than a dozen programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Professor Andrew Blick, current head of department, said: “There are so many people who have played such important roles in the development of the department from an innovative experiment into what it is today and it was a pleasure to welcome many of them back for our anniversary celebration.

“As well as looking back at our formative years, and hearing about the selfless and vital work of those involved, it was an opportunity also to look ahead and really engage people in the process of building on what has been achieved so far.”

You can find out more about the department here.