 There are other places that do the things that Soares do, but I don't think there's anywhere that has the sort of concentration of scholars and a deep regional knowledge of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Together with the deep disciplinary engagement with politics as a field, I think it's those two things together that make politics at Soares distinctive. One of the wonderful things about the department at Soares is the fact that we actually conduct a great deal of really interesting research across a whole series of different subjects and areas of the world. And these kinds of different kinds of research cover a whole range of different thematics that are central to politics, everything from political economy to political violence to voting, to parliamentary elections, to the question of gender, to the question of culture, international politics. And what's exciting about the department is the extent to which we can actually transform what we're researching into material for our teachings. Because what we're doing is we're bringing a great deal of texture, nuance and local knowledge to debates that are taking place at a much higher and perhaps more abstract level. Being based in Bloomsbury, Soares students have access to a unique flow of people and ideas and events which come through this space. This is an intellectual hub as much as it's a social and cultural hub, and Soares students are right in the heart of it. I heard about Soares from a friend of mine. He explained to me how it was unique. It was completely different from all the universities in the UK. I think what is really interesting about the politics programme at Soares is that you actually try and look at mainstream topics and subjects from a completely non-mainstream point of view. Our degrees cover a wide range of sub-disciplines in order to get full coverage of the subject areas. So within politics you can study political theory, political sociology, political economy and on the other hand in international relations you get to look at cross-cutting thematic areas such as war, religion and political economy. My own area of expertise is the Middle East and for example what I have worked on thus far has been the ways in which Palestinians remember and commemorate their politics and the violence and the transformations in their political lives. I have also worked on counterinsurgency and I'm currently working on logistics. Soares students are often at the forefront of political campaigns and recently we were voted the number one political university by which which I think is a testament to how active our student body is. I don't think the study of politics is neutral. I think our classes, our research is engaged, it takes a position but we're not interested in converting our students to what we think. We are interested in them becoming smarter. Whatever their personal values, views, politics and being better able to make sense of the world that they find themselves in. Our master's degrees are designed for people who really want that bridging course to increase their depth of knowledge either in a region or in a set of themes. What attracts me most about Soares is the multidisciplinary approach that it has to studying the region. So I'm studying the Middle East and in addition to studying things like politics and history you can also study literature, poetry, anthropological aspects, the art and so doing all of that that really drew me to Soares. My name is Sam Piranti and I work at the BBC as the Africa Investigations Journalist and I studied a master's in international politics here at Soares. Studying at Soares gave me a great basis for my work. It gave me a critical understanding of certain narratives and themes which I otherwise would never have experienced. It's given me a different way of thinking and a different way of approaching stories in my work. One of the most amazing things about being a Soares alumni is when you bump into fellow Soassians in some of the most interesting and at times slightly bizarre places and you always feel kind of part of a family. I think the quality of the teaching here has been really impressive. All my lecturers evidently have this wealth of knowledge and expertise behind them and you can really tell from the lectures and seminars. I've been really impressed by that, really happy to be on the receiving end of such knowledge. It really opens your mind. I think that's brilliant. I think it was the best choice I've ever made.