 Hello, everyone. And welcome to this session. Greetings from SOAS and greetings from London to all of you. I'm Bhavana Dhave. I'm the postgraduate tutor for Department of Politics and International Studies. And I teach about politics of Central Asia, the postgraduate module in geopolitics in Central Asia and the Caucasus region. I'm happy to share more information about SOAS with you and let you know how we teach politics and international relations. So I will talk for the next four minutes or so and introduce our teaching to you, the department to you, and then hand over to my colleagues who convene the various master's program and they will tell you more about this program. We should have about 25-30 minutes for question and answers from you. So please also have your questions ready. So now about the department. You can see the snapshot of the people in the department. We might have maybe one or two people missing here, but that's basically the most people here. And why study at SOAS? There are a lot of places across the world where you can study politics, which teach about these areas and the discipline. So what is it that makes SOAS stand out and what is it that makes it have its distinctive niche? First of all, our focus is global. We have academics with wide global networks who are engaged deeply with political realities in the global south and their research and expertise continues to make significant contribution to research, dissemination of knowledge, and also formulation of policies. Second, we study these processes through non-western lens. So you know that much knowledge production and analysis in academic institutions and policymaking worldwide is still rooted in western experience, western concepts which are assumed to be the benchmark, the most authoritative ways of studying these events. So we teach about how these ideas, concepts, ideologies, practices which have emerged in Europe and have spread across the world and how they're also continuously being challenged, interrogated, critiqued and how alternative ways of understanding, analyzing, many of these burning issues are emerging. So thus we combine disciplinary knowledge with regional expertise. In this, we also combine these disciplinary ideas, concepts and theories with extensive knowledge about the region which is grounded in the fieldwork that various members of the department have carried out in the regions of their expertise. And this fieldwork is based on strong language skills, deep familiarity with cultures and societies in these regions. So in a nutshell, what we combine is disciplinary knowledge, regional expertise, strong language skills and in-depth fieldwork. So as and the department of politics ranks fifth in UK and seventh in Europe and 21st in the world in terms of the world, the US ratings of this year. And we also have the distinction of having acquired the teaching excellence, the silver teaching excellence framework rating, which means that we do very well in terms of teaching student satisfaction and providing and sharing our ideas and providing the best that we have to offer. Also just a couple of words about the four very active centers which are based in the department of politics. So first one is the Center for International Studies and Diplomacies, CISD. You will also hear more about the CISD different programs directed by Professor Dan Plesch. Second is the Center for Conflict Rights and Justice, which has co-directors Suthanad Raja who currently is on research leave. And we know Kanapati Pillai who will be talking in a couple of minutes time. The Center of Competitive Political Thought, which is directed by Professor Hagar Kotev and finally the Center of Taiwan Studies by Dr. David Fell. Incidentally, Dr. David Fell is going to be taking over as postgraduate tutor in turn two from me. So you may have many of your inquiries directed to him. So all students doing studying for Masters also actively participate in these activities, events organized by these centers and also benefit from interactions with the various members of the Center. So the centers basically combine the various expertise from different departments across SOAS. So now I will have my colleagues talk about the different Masters programs. Let's begin first with, I don't know, do we have Professor Chan here? He's probably still joining in. Why not I hand over to my colleague, Dr. Vinoh Kanapati Pillai who will talk about the Conflict Rights and Justice program and then Professor Chan will come in at a later point. Over to you, Vinoh. Thank you, Bhavna. Can we switch, slip ahead to slide on it if you don't mind. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. So welcome everybody to today's presentation. Just as a quick thing, I don't know if Bhavna said, but this is being recorded. So if you have to step out at any point because your technology fails you, then feel free to just come back in again and Rachel's monitoring the waiting room. So she'll just let you back in as we get started. So my name's Vinoh as Bhavna has already said and I co convene the MSc in Conflict Rights and Justice. The degrees teaching structure is there and I want to say something about this because this degree is a little bit unusual in that for every degree you have to do 180 credits worth of learning. This one has 60 credits as compulsory credits and I want to talk about that a little bit because it's one of the key points about this degree that separates it from many other degrees internationally that seek to work on these themes of conflict rights and justice. This degree is unique in combining a focus on all three subjects. So you have a module on conflicts, a module on rights and a module on justice, all of which are compulsory. Now it's a bit odd if you think about it that other degrees don't do all of these three because any one of these three is closely bound up with the other two. So this degree stands as stands apart for its holistic approach to the issues and themes that we care about. But because the degree is being taught at SOAS after all, we place a particular emphasis on the perspectives from the global self. More generally we take a critical approach to subjects such as human rights, international criminal justice, development, peace building and so on. So the idea is not just training people technically to be involved in these fields but to think critically about the ways in which they engage with these issues around the world. At the same time however we place a rigorous emphasis on rigorous theoretical foundations which is combined with engagement with current policy debates and advocacy dilemmas which we think equips our graduates to go out into jobs and previous graduates have worked in the NGO sector, in the UN, in human rights, development, media and so on. So my third point that I want to make about the degree is that the lectures, the core projects bring together an enormous amount of field-based experience with knowledge of the key theoretical debates in their fields. As Bhavna said this is something that we take great pride in in the politics department as a whole that we can bring together this vast amount of experience with the theoretical academic knowledge but also the practical policy-based knowledge and the degree brings the two together. So you have an access to a wide variety of experienced personnel, experienced lecturers not only in the politics department but from across SOAS, so you can also do modules in law, in development studies as you can see and then List C provides you with a wide range of modules from within the department and across SOAS. The one thing I do want to say just about this particular degree is that the degree has the centre for conflicts, rights and justice wrapped around the degree. Now the centre provides, the degree benefits hugely from having this centre because the centre hosts events, social media discussions, brings in outside speakers and attendees, so there's a lot of networking opportunities, there's a lot of connection opportunity as a result of the way in which the centre is structured around the degree. Over the years we've had book launches, talks by senior figures, conferences and so on. We also have a student-led blog titled Reimagining Peace and Justice that I highly recommend you look at. I also encourage you to follow the centre for conflicts, rights and justice or the Reimagining Peace and Justice blog on our various social media platforms. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram, we're on LinkedIn, we're on Twitter, so you know your social media platform of choice, we're probably there and you can follow us. Student participation is key to the success of the centre, so each year we ask for people from the cohort, students from the cohort to apply to be graduate research associates who take on responsibility for the blog, for writing policy briefs, who engage in ongoing research projects and so on. So if you choose to apply to this degree you'll have an opportunity to learn about the subjects you're interested in but also to engage practically in policy discussions on those topics. I wanted to say a few words about practicalities before I wrap up. The first is if you have any questions about administrative procedures and rules please talk to the admissions team because they're the best place to know what the latest rules are and what the most up-to-date information is. However if you have queries about the content and teaching on this degree then feel free to get in touch with me. I'm more than happy to talk about your personal statement or if you have any questions. We take students not only from those who have a politics or social science background but also those who have other relevant backgrounds and if you fall into one of those categories don't try to second-guess whether your background is relevant. Get in touch with us and we're more than happy to talk to you about it and help you work through it and think about how you frame your personal statement and so on. So if you share our intellectual interest in conflicts, rights, and or justice then talk to me about it. Thank you Bhavna. Thank you Vino. Our next speaker will be Dr Yanan Song who will talk about the MA in international studies and diplomacy and other related programs. Over to you Yanan. Thank you Bhavna. Hello everyone again welcome to this interesting event. I am Yanan Song from the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy. Over center basically offer two men on campus master programs. One is the MA International Studies and Diplomacy ASD. The other is the MSc Global Energy and Climate Policy GCP. Both of those two programs aim to deliver cross-disciplinary teaching and learning that combines our understanding of key concepts theories and debates with practical skills training. Well to be more specific about those two programs the ASD program is basically designed for those engaged in or planning to embark on a professional career requiring international expertise in government or in not-for-profit corporate or academic environments. Well the GCP program is basically for those interested in professional contacts relating to energy and climate policy. But both of those two programs you will have a chance to choose a combination of modules to meet your own specific professional needs and personal interests. As you can see from the slides you can choose from various modules ranging from political science, international relations, diplomatic studies to public policy, economics, law etc. And can you help maybe move on to the next slide to show the students about the module selection regarding GCP as well? Yeah that's basically for the GCP program. Another interesting feature of a program is that you will also be given an opportunity to participate in the range of extracurricular activities. For example students on the ASD program may have the opportunity to participate in CISD study tours of Geneva visiting the United Nations. And students on the GCP program may have the opportunity to participate in study tours of energy and climate related organizations in Paris and in Brussels. We also offer some other study tours including to New York, Washington in the United States and also to Ethiopia etc. Usually the study tours are going to take place in February or in the summertime. Well generally speaking we welcome applications from a wide variety of fields and backgrounds. It is not necessary to have a first degree in a discipline directly related to the program. So if you are interested in studying at the center we would be very delighted to discuss with you any queries you have whether in person on the phone or by this kind of online chatting. So feel free to contact the center director or the program conveners. We're going to be very much look forward to meeting or eat meeting you sometime in the future. Thank you guys. Thank you Anand. The next speaker would be Dr. Rojna Bajpayee who will talk about the MSc politics of Asia degree program. Thank you. Thank you Bhavna. I hope you can see me and hear me everyone. I'm Rojna Bajpayee. I have been teaching at SOAS for nearly 15 years now. I did my first degree in India. I then did my graduate work at Oxford and then moved to SOAS soon after and my profile is pretty representative of what you will find in the department. A lot of us have are multi-institutional. We've done degrees in the regions that we teach and we've also been trained at some of the top universities worldwide and in the UK. So the politics of Asia degree which I co convene with Dr. Michael Bueller is a new degree and it's been one of our most successful degrees in recent times in terms of recruitment. We have in the degree two pathways the East Asia pathway and the South Asia pathway that those of you who've had a chance to look at the website will know off and the slide that you can see currently is off the East Asia pathway and I've tried to put there in not the best formatted fashion but I've tried to give you a sense of the colleagues who will be teaching you. So Michael Bueller and Dr. Michael Bueller and Dr. Tatiana Kong are the conveners or co-conveners of this pathway and some of the courses that you will teach are going to be taught by Julia Strauss, by David Fell, by Yuka Kobayashi, by Carlo Bonura. So there's a wide range of expertise in this program and that's one key and the first key feature that I wanted to highlight. Basically there's no other politics of Asia program I think in the world that can boast of the range of expertise that we provide in North Asia, in North East Asia, in Southeast Asia, in South Asia and Central Asia. So it's pretty unrivaled in its regional scope. It's also the second point that I wanted to bring up is that it's also programmed with a strong disciplinary foundation. So when we revamped it, we introduced two new courses, frameworks of political analysis and methodology, which are compulsory courses for students across the program and these give you both a common disciplinary base but also a cohort of students that you will be meeting each week irrespective of which area of Asia you choose to specialize in. And the third point I wanted to highlight is that like other programs, we offer open options, a range of open options. In our case, this includes languages. So you will have the opportunity to learn languages of South Asia and Southeast Asia. This year, for instance, we have former members of parliament who are doing this degree learning Bengali because they have an interest and have worked in Bangladesh. So that's just to give you a sense of what students who have been doing this program choose to do. The South Asia pathway is one which I lead on and co-convene. These are some of the colleagues who teach key courses in this program, Dr. Yasir Koreshi, Dr. Raveenash Palival, Dr. Bhavnathave, Dr. Simona Vittorini. And again, if you choose this pathway, you'll have a range of courses that's listed there. I won't have the time to go into the details of the courses. But the key thing to remember is, A, there's a wide range of choice, both of beyond India and within India teaching from different perspectives, from IR of South Asia, international relations of South Asia to domestic politics, to cinema and film. I hope those of you who are interested in this program know that Asia is basically the largest continent and South Asia is the most populous region. One in every four persons in the world is a South Asianist. So it is a neglected but crucially important region of rising significance in world politics. And in this program, as well as the East Asia pathway, you can, of course, choose open options. And finally, you can choose some of our students, choose not to specialize in either South Asia or East Asia, but to do equal number of courses from each. So that is also possible. If you don't have to, if you're undecided, choose between one or the other. Okay, so that's enough from me now. But I'm happy to take questions in the end. And back to you, Bhavna. Thanks. Thank you, Rojna. Bhavna, I think you're on mute. I'm so sorry. The next we have Professor Arshing Azib Mogadam, who will talk about the MSC politics of the Middle East. Thank you very much, Bhavna. I think we are meant to speak for about three minutes. So I will stick to that time. And I'm really looking forward to interact with you directly. So I'll just give you a few signposts without necessarily repeating what was already said by my distinguished colleagues. So the MSC politics of the Middle East is very similar to all the other degrees in terms of its flexibility, the global outlook, the composition of the staff. We have a longstanding tradition of studying this pivotal region of the world at SOAS. Well, I can easily say, having studied in three or four different countries, that you can't get around SOAS when it comes to studying any region, including the Middle East. So when you take a look at the biography of many of the world leaders, there is a bit of SOAS in there, if not in terms of degree, then certainly in terms of visiting fellowships and things like that. This is the case also when it comes to the MSC politics of the Middle East. So flexibility is reflected in the various options that you have. There are compulsory options that are interdisciplinary, where you get an overview of the region in terms of its domestic politics and its explosive international relations, of course, in the political economy. Everything that happens in that region is intimately linked to what happens here, especially in London, not only in terms of our sort of multicultural links to the region, but certainly also in terms of some of the, you know, rather disastrous wars that, you know, happened with our involvement. So we study the causes of these events. We study why they happened, what the repercussions are, and, you know, the composition of the degree reflects that wide-ranging approach. So you have the list, deal with the core components, you know, again, not very different from the other degrees interdisciplinary with, you know, elements of domestic politics, international relations, political economy, and a bit of artificial intelligence in there as well, but not artificial intelligence in the kind of Eurocentric approach that Bhavna already kind of unearthed and tried to challenge, but, you know, what are the discourse of artificial intelligence, some of the other things from beyond. So we always try to look at, you know, the viewpoint of others, and in particular, of course, intellectuals, academic scholars in the so-called Middle East, and then there are several guided options. And of course, again, in terms of the depth of source, you can study languages, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, whatever language you fancy that is, you know, characteristic of this region, you can do it at source, and you can't do it at some of the other institutions. This is why this degree has been, I believe, one of the most prominent and largest MSc, master's Middle East degrees in the world. Next slide, please, Bhavna. So you have my wonderful colleagues who are all very prominent academics and scholars of the region, Professor Sawa Ismail, Dr. Reem Aghwal Fadal, and Dr. Sara El-Kazas, all of them publishing on Egypt, on Turkey, on, you know, my humble self, Iran, on, you know, urbanity. And then, of course, you have this beautiful atmosphere in London with all these wonderful institutions surrounding Sawa Is that all offer various events on this region of the world. And then you have our source unions were particularly, you know, in a positive way agitated whenever something happens in the region. So, you know, Sawa Is is a place to be, if you want to be as close as possible to the events in this region. We also house the Cambridge University Press book series, The Globe of Middle East. As you can see, you know, Reem published some of the other colleagues published as part of this book series. But, you know, we have published with all the major university presses, Sawa Ismail's, you know, Pivotal book on Syria, you know, we have published with the major university presses in the world. So, you'll be very well cared for. Please reach out and, you know, talk to us about whatever you would like to. I'll be personally very happy to answer all your questions. And on to you, Bhavna. Thank you so much. Thank you, Arshen. And finally, we have our colleague, Dr. Manjeet Ramgothra, who will talk about the political thought MSc program. Manjeet, you're on mute, Manjeet. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. And it's a real pleasure to be here and to meet you virtually. My name is Manjeet Ramgothra, and I teach political theory in the department. So I'm really excited to tell you about our program that has been developing more and more over the last few years. Studying political thought at Sawa Is quite a unique experience, because our approach to political theory tends to be more of a comparative one. So what do I mean by that? The study of political theory at Sawa Is doesn't relate uniquely to the Western canon of great thinkers. We do study some of them, but actually what it does is it goes beyond those borders. And it looks at political theory as articulated in different places, by different peoples and through different movements in the world. Could you go back to the previous slide, please? Thank you. Yeah, so we look beyond borders, and we study political theory as articulated in different parts of the world. And this is also indicated in some of the options that you can take, such as African political thought. There's also a course in Indian political thought. Our core modules, or the compulsory ones, rather, are political theory, race, and empire, which is, of course, that looks at post-colonialism, but also studies, race, and empire. And it's taught by my colleague, Hagar Kotaf, who is the director of our Center for Research, the Center for Comparative Political Theory and an expert on settler colonialism, as well as on Hobbes and Locke and restrictions to movement. The other core compulsory course is approaches to comparative political thought. And it is in this course where we start to compare political theory across borders. And we look at the methodologies through which we can do this. And then we start to introduce thinkers from different parts of the world, such as Mbembe in Africa, etc. And the third course, which is a new one, is reading and writing political theory. And this is a unique course, as the other two are as well. But this one in particular is a course that will be is designed to support students in conceptualizing their dissertations and also in writing a dissertation that is theory focused. And it's going to be constructed through some short seminars of a couple of hours each, and two full day workshops that are just for students working in political theories so that you can work together and support each other in writing about political theory. And we'll also have some other activities related to research and writing through that course as well as the Center. And then we have some other courses in political theories, such as culture and difference in political theory, political theory and global crises. So as you can see, the scope goes beyond what is normally taught in political theory degrees. I just want to stress that we also have the Center for Comparative Political Thought, where we have a reading group as well as seminars and talks given by political theories from across the world. And we would very much encourage you to be involved in this and also to take part in the reading group, which we want to have as more student led than led by the Center. So yeah, we will be doing we are developing relations across it, or our department in political theory is growing. And in January, we welcome Professor Inche from who's currently at Singapore. We have myself another expert called Alexi Albrecht in political theory, and people like Rochna Bajpai and Carla Bonira, as well as Professor Stephen Chan, who also have regional expertise as well as expertise in political theory. So it's this unique combination of people who are political theorists, but they're also experts in different regions across the world that come together and make this a really unique degree. So I look forward to answering any questions that you might have later on. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you, Manjeet. And we had our colleague Stephen Chan, who was going to talk about international politics and African politics had some technical difficulties getting on this. So my colleague, Arshene, Professor Arshene Rehbogadham has kindly offered to talk very briefly about the international politics program. So I will hand over to Arshene. And then we want to make sure that we have about 15, 20 minutes for your Q&A. So Arshene, I'm just moving to the slides. And if you can say a few words, please. Thank you, Bhavna. I mean, as as indicated before, really, everything we said applies obviously to the MSc international politics degree as well, which I convened a few times, including last year. It's one of the largest degrees at SOAS. So you will be embedded in a wonderful cohort of students from all over the world. So that in itself has, of course, pedagogical value, educational value, because of the networks that you create, some of them lifelong. I mean, as you know, Rajna said, I've been teaching at SOAS for 15 years as well. And you know, I'm still in contact with some of the students from 15 years ago. And they have these wonderful careers all over the world. So what we have truly is a network of SOASians who keep in contact, benefit from those contacts, not only in terms of, you know, socializing, and when you go to different towns, you see a SOASian and you get happy and you hang out, that's important in and of itself. Certainly, there's a lot of hanging out at SOAS. But also because of the kind of networks that you forge that are beneficial for jobs and things like that. And the MSc international politics is at the heart of that, I would say, simply because of the numbers of students that we get for this degree. And when you study international relations at SOAS, you truly study the globe, the world, as Bhavna said, you know, it's not international Western studies, which is the case, I have to say, most of them all are degrees in, you know, that I know at least and that I've encountered and that I've even spoken at various conferences. But here at SOAS, I can vouch for you really study the world. So you have, again, the same structure, you know, compulsory courses, obviously, international theory methodology, you know, how do we analyze the world, right? How can we understand what is happening? This is important. The how questions must be important for a postgraduate degree, as much as the why question, but you need to know how, as much in, you know, academic life as in personal life, in order to know why. And then you'll have this be the core courses from policy analysis, no surprises here, international political economy, politics of global security, and further on, you know, the various regional options, again, something unique about the IR degree at SOAS, you have the regions, right, you can pick and choose, you can, you know, get a little bit of the Middle East, a little bit of Asia, and maybe throw some Africa in there, all possible within that degree. And then beyond that, you know, even further field beyond the department, and even intercollegiate, you could even, you know, get some smaller units from some of the other colleges of the University of London, some of the, again, unique things about us is that we are part of this vast network. And then with the dissertation, you get the perfect opportunity to work with the academic scholar that you would want to work with for a one-to-one situation, two or three months on the topic that you would love to research further. Thank you, Bhavna. I think we can, we can have the question and answer. Yes. Thank you, Arshin. Just finally, I would ask students interested in Africa to write to the program convener, Dr. Alistair Fraser with any questions or just direct your questions inquiry to me. So now we have time for your questions, clarifications. So please write in chat, or if you're able to speak, then please feel free to do so. I'm going to stop sharing the screen. We'd love to know what your interests are, what brings you to our open day, and what sorts of questions you still have at the end of all the information that you've been bombarded with from our end. So please do speak up. Don't worry about if you think the question is too small or if you think it can be addressed on the website, it's fine still to talk to us about it. So don't be shy. Christina wants to say something. Hi, sorry, can you hear me? Okay, great. I just had a quick question. So I was in the webinar just before this for the Department of East Asia Studies, I believe, and I was listening to their talk for the degree. I'm particularly interested in Chinese studies, so I was looking at their MA Chinese studies. However, listening to the talk here, it sounds as though I'm probably what I'm actually interested in is the MSc Politics of Asia and looking at East Asia pathway. I was just wondering in that previous talk, they were talking about how there's the option for study abroad. From what it sounds like, it doesn't look like there's a lot of room in the MSc Politics of Asia for that, but I just wanted to confirm that whether that was an option or not so much. Thanks. You were right. Absolutely, Christina. That's a really good question. In fact, we are looking into this, but that is one thing which distinguishes some of the MSc's we do from those that other departments offer. So as we don't have a built-in sort of study abroad component, because as you can see, the credit requirements get filled up with the combination of disciplinary training. So we've tried to balance both disciplinary training, but then also a sufficient range of regional courses. And that means that we had to, if you like, sacrifice that, but that is something we're looking into. We do, though, offer the language option, which the other departments that other regional departments offer. So you should be able to do that. And I mean, obviously, it's up to you to choose which program best suits your needs. But we have had people in the past who've, including this year, who've moved from, say, the regional South Asia or East Asia to our programs, because they find that they are able to pursue a wider, as wide a range of certainly options in the regional courses as well as getting a disciplinary cohort training. And we're also looking in this MSc's program at internships for students. So I'm actually in conversation at the moment with colleagues to try and have paid internships that are linked as well to the politics of Asia program. So that's another area to look out for. Amazing. Thank you. If I might just quickly tack in there, just another question. So if I, because my background is, I just sort of completed my bachelor's in politics and international relations. And if it is specifically that political side of the Chinese studies aspect that I'm interested in, would you kind of just sort of, I appreciate it's probably a big question, there's more to it. But would you advise this seems as though that's kind of more tailored than. Yeah, I think so. And as I said, we've had as conveners experience of students moving from the regional to this for those who are more interested in the politics side. And that's what they've said that we came to do a general degree at SOAS, but we find we're more interested in the politics side of it. And, and because, as you know, the department from my colleagues talks offers really a wide range of other very attractive center and disciplinary, as well as regional options that you can take as options that there are many students who choose to move to us for that reason. So I would strongly encourage you to do it because the one thing that it does make a difference to. I mean, of course, we have a flexible like all other programs at SOAS, but departmental students then have a priority in module sign up in their sometimes caps, for example, in if there are too many students, and so it does make sense to choose a department where most of the courses are the ones that you want to take, basically. I'm not sure I phrased that entirely correctly, but no, that's perfect. Yeah, that's great. That's really helpful. Thanks very much for that. Let me just read out a question by Jesse about asking for distinction, difference between the Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy and MSc International Politics. So if colleagues teaching these modules can respond. Sorry to interrupt. I replied to the message already. Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. Can I, can I probably add something regarding this to Jesse's question, please? Yeah, my feeling is probably similar to Vino's answer in the chatting box. The international politics program might require the students to have, you know, kind of academic background in political science, international relations, etc. But for the MAISD, we, as I mentioned earlier, we welcome applications from a wide variety of views and backgrounds. And it's not necessary to have a first degree in this discipline directly related to the program. And more specifically, the MAISD is designed to be very practical. We want to give our students a clearer picture of what you will do or end up with after taking all the programs. So this is particularly useful for thinking about and planning your career ahead of time. So the important feature of our program is that we not only offer on-campus teaching and learning, but also offer some kind of practical skills training and extracurricular activities. So for example, we also invite serving and former diplomats and NGO experts to train students with skills on, for example, diplomatic practice. So this is probably, you know, the difference that I wanted to address regarding those two on-campus master programs. And I hope that's going to be useful. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, I have a question. I think it's going to be a general question, but how can we meet advisors or find advisors for our master degrees? I'm sorry, I didn't hear me. Okay, so my question is, how can we find suitable advisors for our MA degrees? For example, if we want to have a thesis at the end of the second year, or I don't know how much the duration of the MA degrees, if it's say two years or one year? Yes, good question. Once you are enrolling the master's program, we will guide you through the process of dissertation, writing, supervision, advising. So all those things will take place. And normally by December, you have to finalize your dissertation topic. Of course, you can change it and the supervision you indicate your preference. So you can select who you want to work with, and we do our best to ensure that you are able to get supervision from the person who you requested. So all through, you will be guided in the process. Okay, and as for the average scholarships and everything, so you're not may, I think the title, we need to make a connection with the administration. For the dissertation title? No, no, I mean, I mean, for the average, which the requirements say for applying for these programs MA program degrees, so which, how much the average is going to be if you have scholarship, all the applications. So I need to, I think this, yeah, the scholarship, there are very few scholarships that so as awards, so we ask students to look for all other alternatives. And I think it's best to contact the scholarship office and the administration. Yes, we can advise you about the academic aspects and teaching and degree program. And also the average and all the requirements. All those things you, you can write with your specific details, you can write to one of us and also write to the administration, but I'll be happy to respond to your specific request if you can send me the specific details. Yeah, of course I will. Okay. May I quickly jump in just to add to what Bhavna said, which is really useful. Yeah, the admissions and the scholarships offices have their own emails and they, you should have access to those. So if you direct administrative queries to them, but in addition to the dissertation advisor, the convener of your MSc, so for instance, for Middle East, it's Arshene or for politics of Asia, it's myself and Michael. We also serve as advisors in the sense of helping you choose courses, but also, yeah, to design your degree. So if you're thinking, if your question was about pastoral advice or advice about beyond the dissertation, then that is usually provided by the conveners of the respective degrees. So that's another source of advice, as well as the postgraduate convener that's currently Bhavna. And next term, yeah, would be my colleague Dr. Fell. Thank you. The final question I buy, Ivy, I don't know if colleagues answered that question. Hands up. Yes. VD has your hand up and someone. Yes. Is it okay if I go ahead? Yes. Yeah. So my question is, what are the key or important aspects and factors you're looking for in an SOP? Can you repeat the question? I didn't quite get it. Yeah, what are some important factors and aspects you're looking for, but a preferred student in our statement of purpose? Okay, I will just briefly say, and my colleagues can add to it. There is no standard expectation as such. Your statement of purpose should reveal to us, what are you interested in? Why are you interested in that what background, if any, you have in that, or why you want to acquire further knowledge? It should tell us something about you as a person and also about what you have done and your motivation. So each person has their own specific reasons. So there is no kind of standard such policy as such. It also requires you to be authentic and also share what is it that you want to do. And again, you can write to us if you have specific questions we can give. We can't comment on your statement of purpose, but we may be able to provide you certain guidelines once you write, ask us with some specific questions. Thank you. I had a similar question, which says that's been answered. I was also wondering though, do the sort of course tutors, do you all look at the statement of purpose, or is it sort of decided by a separate admissions department? We look at all those things exactly. So some of the your marks and other things they may be looked upon by the by the central the administration offices. But what you have written in text about yourself is something that is read looked upon by the specific program conveners and number of the relevant other colleagues as well. So it's very important what you write there. But exactly as Bhavna said, if I may very quickly that you need, it's of course, you know that there's a general two one sort of requirement, but they what distinguishes us is that because we take the statements seriously, we do look at borderline cases. So if you've not met the two one equivalent, do still apply if you feel that you have for instance, relevant work experience, put that into the statement of purpose. And do tell us why you particularly want to come to SOAS or to the degree because say for international politics or political thought, there are many places where you can do these degrees and we are always interested in knowing why the students would choose would seek to come to us in particular. And as I said, relevant work experience is always good to put in as well. So what distinguishes us is we do take each applicant seriously and application seriously and not just apply a mechanical cut off of a two one which many sort of places do. Are there other questions? Where can we find your emails? On the on the politics and international studies, the website and you will easily find under each person's name. And otherwise any inquiries, the simple thing is PG politics at SOAS.acuk is one thing and my own email bd4 at SOAS.acuk. So if you're struggling to find the right person, send it to me and I can forward it to the relevant people. Can you repeat it again or write to me and just put it in the chat. Okay, yeah. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Bhavna, just sorry. There's a couple of questions in the chat about PhD programs, admissions and education deadlines. I think the admissions team is better placed to answer those questions. So can I advise you to come along? There's one couple of hours from now. I think there's another session like this where the admissions team is running that session. I would advise that you go to that session and ask those types of questions because they'd be better placed to answer it than we are. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, sorry to interrupt. Is it possible for me to direct the question to Professor Archie? Okay, yeah, very quickly. So I come from a background of international relations and I'm briefly specialized in the region of the Middle East and North Africa and I'm looking to explore that region further through the programs that you guys offer at SOAS that I find very, very interesting. And I'm looking at two in particular. I'm looking at politics of the Middle East masters, but I'm also looking at the Middle Eastern studies masters. I wanted to ask about the main differences because I know they're in different departments and I have yet to go to the session of that department. So if you could just briefly tell me the main distinguishing factors, I would really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mazara. This is a very pertinent question. It comes up very often. I've actually replied to emails about this as well. So as you rightly said, the other degree is based at a different department, which comes with a more kind of humanities cultural studies focus. Whereas we are probably more socially scientifically rooted, which means that we look at kind of political dynamics more than than they would do. You would also be at a slightly different department in terms of the availability of courses. So I would recommend that you look at the degree structure and see what options you have. And then you would probably, you know, for some courses also click on, you know, the structure, which is all available online. And then you would see the content and the differences will become clearer in general. It's that difference. But then in particular, you know, a little bit of clicking here and there would give you more. And then of course, you know, just reach out, drop me an email and we could also talk on Zoom if you like, you know, via email, no problem at all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. I guess we have to end this meeting because we have gone about the time. So any further questions, please send them send us emails. Thank you, everyone. Sorry, is anyone trying to say something? Okay. Otherwise, thank you, everyone. And hope to see you at SOAS next year. Bye. Thanks, everyone. Bye. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Great stuff. Thanks. Good to see everyone.