Dr Kiran Phull

Biography

Dr Kiran Phull is a Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of War Studies. Her research focuses on the politics of global knowledge production and the rise of scientific opinion polling. She takes a critical and interdisciplinary approach to the study of public opinion, and is interested in how epistemic technologies (like polls, surveys, and data) create and shape the conditions for governing social and political life.

Before joining King’s College London, Kiran was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics, taking part in the teaching and design of LSE100, an interdisciplinary social science training programme for undergraduates. She received her PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics, where she explored the history of scientific inquiry into Middle Eastern publics. Her doctoral research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Her empirical work takes place in sites like social science institutes and universities, international private polling firms, and state departments. Kiran has research interests in critical pedagogy and the production of disciplinary bias in IR, as well as experience working in the private sector in quantitative methods and data analysis. She provides consultation on data analytics, survey research methods, and data visualisation in policy and higher education circles.

Research Interests

• Public opinion
• Knowledge production and epistemology
• Critical methods in International Relations
• Politics of numbers
• Science and Technology Studies

Publications

• ‘Gender and Bias in the International Relations Curriculum: Insights from Reading Lists’ (2019), European Journal of International Relations, 25(2): 383-407 (with G. Meibauer and G. Ciflikli).
• ‘Crossroads of Integration? The Future of Schengen in the Wake of the Arab Spring’ (2013), in The EU and the Eurozone Crisis: Policy Challenges and Strategic Choices, Routledge (with J. Sutcliffe).

See a full list of publications on Dr Phull's PURE Profile

Teaching

• The Global Governance of Conflict and Security: Theories and Methods (MA)
• Theories, Concepts and Methods in International Relations (MA)
• Technology, Security and Global Politics (MA)

PhD Supervision

Dr Phull is open to PhD supervision on topics relating to global knowledge and International Relations, public opinion, the politics of numbers, and related areas of critical research.

Current PhD Supervision

Alexis Calvas (Second supervisor)