Top reasons to choose this course
- In 2025, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was judged the most LGBTQ+ friendly university in the country.
- ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø offers you a unique opportunity to study an undergraduate degree focused on this crucial area of politics.
- Work with internationally recognised experts in gender and sexual politics with specialisms in reproductive politics, gender-based violence and anti-gender politics. Other areas of expertise in the department include populism, the Middle East, environmental politics, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist politics and political theory.
- Option to spend a semester studying abroad with a partner university in Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands or Örebro Universitet in Sweden.
- You can work with the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender, which hosts regular talks, seminars, workshops and conferences, as well as offering research internships.
- Our bespoke placement opportunities give you the chance to make sector and industry connections and gain valuable experience.
- Learn in a vibrant, progressive city with a reputation for radical, environmental and LGBTQI+ activism.
- Explore cutting-edge research through the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics. It holds activities such as talks, seminars, workshops and conferences, as well as an annual undergraduate research prize.
- Learn about contemporary politics from guest speakers. Recent visitors include Julianna Gleeson (author of Hermaphrodite Logic: A History of Intersex Liberation) Caroline Lucas and Sue Shanks (Green Party) and Professor Angie Wilson (ex-chair of the Political Studies Association and researcher in sexuality and politics), as well as representatives from Make the Shift, The Free West Papua Campaign and ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and Hove Community Land Trust.
- Assignments don’t just mean essays; you’ll be assessed in different ways, including presentations, podcasts, data visualisations and social media campaigns – projects that will be valued by employers.
- Graduate with both theoretical and practical knowledge. The course prepares you for future careers with opportunities to undertake placements, design a campaign for a political organisation and learn digital communication skills.
- The university’s commitment to addressing global challenges is the lens through which you will learn, and vital issues including climate change, sustainability, equality and inclusivity are embedded across our teaching.
- Our decolonised approach to teaching and learning emphasises lived experience, recognising that knowledge is held in communities, not only in academic institutions.
Year 1
In your first year, you will study six core modules that introduce you to the subject area, with a focus on the historical forces shaping the political present and politics as a multifaceted practice. You will also study specialist modules covering key approaches to the study of politics, sexuality and gender.
Modules
- Foundations in World Politics
You will examine critical historical perspectives on the modern international political system. You’ll examine how the peoples and governments of the world came to be linked through an imperial system by exploring major world events and processes of global history. Key topics include the origins of the international political system, slavery, imperial and colonial expansion, anti-colonial resistance and liberation, global governance, controversy and historiography.
- Introduction to Politics, Sexuality and Gender
This module foregrounds the centrality of sexuality and gender for understanding politics. You will be introduced to theoretical and conceptual approaches related to the field, with an emphasis on how political activity in this area has transformed political agendas and produced new ways of understanding the world. It draws on feminist, gender, sexuality, queer and trans studies, as well as political science, international relations, sociology and critical theory.
- Politics in Practice
This module introduces you to ideas about how politics is practiced by state and non-state actors at local, national and international levels. You will take part in field trips, Q+As with political actors and engagement with political communications. You’ll also be introduced to methods of data collection as well as forms of qualitative and quantitative analysis.
- Introduction to the  Global Challenges Lab
Supported by a tutor, you will design and conduct a research project that addresses one of the global challenges identified by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. You’ll learn how to create blogs, podcasts and short films to communicate your research and ideas to a non-academic audience.
- Global Ethics
Are some things right and wrong across cultures? How should humans relate to animals, nature and technology? How are sex and gender understood in different places. In this module you will examine questions in global ethics using frameworks of thinking from around the world, such as Islamic traditions, Confucianism and Jainism as well as Indigenous perspectives from Latin America, Africa and the South Pacific. You will explore the ethical perspectives that interest you and apply them to real-world moral dilemmas.
- Comparative Political Systems
This module introduces you to some of the key features of politics, including institutions, political actors and political processes. You will examine the most important political hallmarks – for example the legislature, the executive, political parties and electoral processes – in at least two contemporary states that illustrate democratic, partially democratic, or/and authoritarian political systems.
Year 2
In your second year you will build your knowledge of the subject and your research skills. You’ll explore contemporary theories and practices of government and policy and examine key thematic issues relating to sexuality and gender, including the relationship between bodies and power. You will get to specialise in the subjects that interest you most, choosing optional modules.
Modules
Core modules
- Unruly Bodies: Understanding and Contesting Normativity
In this module you will explore the historical production of dominant ideas of the body, specifically the production of raced, classed, gendered and normative bodies in relation to the histories and legacies of colonialism, capitalism and empire. You will examine alternative concepts of bodies and embodied practices that challenge dominant ways of thinking and being.
- UK Politics
You’ll develop your understanding of the role, form and evolution of the contemporary British state. Taking the post war settlement and the ‘Westminster Model’ as a starting point, you will look at key developments in the form of the state and their influences, including the rise of the New Right, globalisation, complex governance models and devolution. You will examine where power lies in British politics, how much power governments have and how this manifests in policymaking decisions.
- Gender, Race and the Environment
This module explores the gender, race and class aspects of the climate crisis by looking at theoretical approaches examining these connections. You will look at debates and theoretical approaches such as environmental justice, ecofeminism, feminist political ecology, Black critical theory, critical Marxism and postcolonial feminism to see how the climate crisis is absorbed and impacts different political locations and spaces.
- Researching Politics
In this module you will study the research methods commonly used in politics, focusing on basic research design, ethical considerations and positionality, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, and case study research. You will explore the positivist paradigms dominant in politics research, focusing particularly on decolonising research methods.
Options*
- Global Challenges: Communicating Research and Policy
You will develop your understanding of the global challenges identified by the UN’s sustainability goal and design policy solutions. You’ll critically engage with key global challenges while learning strategies to communicate your investigation to a wider audience. You will also learn to develop policy solutions for an identified global challenge.
- Contemporary Issues in International Relations
You will be introduced to a range of contemporary issues in world politics and explore how various international relations (IR) theories can be used to explain and understand these topics. The module gives you the opportunity to explore issues such as war crimes, the arms trade and nuclear weapons, among others, drawing on examples from today’s global politics.
- Authority, Democracy and Justice
Authority, Democracy and Justice builds on your understanding of political theory, bringing in key authors in their historical context and examining core concepts in depth. It focuses on critiques of democracy, addressing the question of political obligation and the social contract, and bringing to the fore Marxist and anarchist analyses of democracy. You will also explore social justice, entitlement theory and economic democracy.
- Queer Writing
In this module you will explore a tradition of LGBTQ+ writing in the context of the history and politics of sexuality and queer identities over the past two centuries. The module uses key dates in that history to examine and debate how representation and writing have been both tools of oppression and liberation. Primary texts and films/TV shows could include The Well of Loneliness, Stone Butch Blues, The Black Flamingo, Swimming in the Dark and Fairytales for Lost Children.
- Reproduction, Sex and Power
This module examines the political and ethical issues surrounding sex and reproduction in the 21st century, placing them within wider social, economic and geopolitical changes. You will explore how reproductive and sexual practices are shaped by intersecting structures of gender, race, sexuality, class and (dis)ability, and consider the forces that determine whose bodies, families and labour are valued, regulated or marginalised.
- Experiencing the Workplace: Practices and the Community
This 40-hour community engagement module provides you with the opportunity to explore workplace practices and recognise your role as a global citizen. You will put into practice what you have learned in relation to policies, politics and communication, and reflect on issues such as gender, race and class representation. Through the placement you will acquire transferrable employability skills and abilities, including professional conduct in the workplace, teamwork and problem-solving.
- Gender and Sexuality
During this module you will examine major theories on gender and sexuality and analyse how identities more widely are constructed and deconstructed. You will develop a critical understanding of the modern history of social movements on gender and sexuality issues and explore how radical history has engaged with the voices and actions of the marginalised and oppressed as they seek to challenge power in all its forms.
- We, the People
This module introduces the notion of the people into modern history and looks at its relationship to sovereignty, nationalism, revolution, colonialism, decolonial projects, and the academic study of politics as a discipline. You will critically examine debates over the people emerging in various historical contexts and political practices. You’ll also consider critiques of the people developed from decolonial and black critical theory.
- International Institutions
This module focuses on key contemporary international institutions including the United Nations and the European Union and examines how different actors – including states, diplomats, non-governmental organisations and social movements – interact within these institutions. By looking at how decisions are made, you will explore questions of power, democracy and governance in a changing international order. The module will include at least one model United Nations event.
*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.
Final year
In your final year you will further develop your knowledge and skills, with a specific focus on the future and progressive change. You will explore the place of sexuality and gender in contemporary social and political movements and work with an external campaigning organisation to develop your understanding of how civil society groups can make interventions in the political sphere.
You’ll also conduct an independent research project, supported by an academic supervisor. This is your opportunity to develop an idea independently, using the skills you have honed throughout your course. Option modules provide more opportunities to focus on subjects that interest and intrigue you.
Modules
Core modules
- Activism and Social Change
With the aim of exploring how civil society groups can intervene in the political sphere, you will plan a political campaign during this module. You will study the social issues involved and design and run a campaign that meets a live brief provided by a third sector campaigning organisation. You’ll learn a range of skills to help you run a successful political campaign and draw on the digital and creative skills you have acquired in the Global Challenges Lab.
- Sexual Utopias: Imagining Radical Futures
Recent years have given rise to a range of new approaches to the relationship between sexual politics and social change, raising questions about the kind of future we want and the role that sexual practices should play in creating it. This module introduces this theoretical work and provides a broad understanding of the relationship between gender, sex and sexuality and contemporary ideas about social transformation.
- Social Change Project
Working with a tutor, you will undertake a research project in this module to address a global challenge highlighted by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, for example poverty, hunger, gender equality or responsible consumption. You will choose from the range of skills you have acquired in the Global Challenges Lab to communicate this research to a non-academic audience.
- Politics Dissertation
With expert guidance, you will take on a research project you’ve designed and refined through a series of research lectures and supervisions. You will examine primary sources, analyse theoretical debates and use research methodology aligned with your course requirements, including quantitative and/or qualitative methods. The culmination of your research will be presented in a comprehensive dissertation.
Options*
- Neoliberalism, Imperialism and Resistance
In this module you will examine the spread of global neoliberalism and its relationship to US hegemony and imperialism, using an international political economy perspective to understand power and patterns of accumulation. You will assess challenges to this model, including the rise of BRICS+ countries and a resurgent Russia, and explore local resistance to neoliberal expansion, with a particular focus on Latin America.
- Language, Gender and Sexuality
You will develop an understanding of language as it relates to gender and sexuality across cultures and other social identities during this module. Various claims made about gender, sexuality and linguistic practices will be addressed, and you will be introduced to theoretical and analytical frameworks for critically evaluating these assertions. You will examine feminist and queer social theories to understand the relationship between language, culture and social identities.
- Radical Political Economy and Anarchist Politics
This module provides an in-depth and critical examination of political economy and anarchism theories, introducing classical theories of political economy and presenting a range of alternatives from the political left and right. It also assesses the contribution of anarchist politics from different established perspectives.
- Global Social Policy
You will learn about contemporary developments and challenges for human wellbeing and social policy at the global level during this module. It looks at supranational, regional, national and local contexts of social policy provision, the relationship of monetary and fiscal policy and policy transfer. The module applies theoretical frameworks and concepts from the social sciences, including social policy, politics, sociology and area studies.
- Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention
This module explores human rights and humanitarian intervention, examining the role the international community plays in causing, preventing and responding to human rights violation. You will study human rights issues in the context of military intervention and the prevention of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity, and question if and how human rights are being protected in a changing international order.
- Feminism and Post-Feminism
This module explores modern feminist theory and politics and examines earlier influential forms of feminism, such as its liberal, socialist and radical strands. It evaluates attempts to update feminist thought for the 21st century in response to challenges from poststructuralism, critical race studies and queer theory, among others and considers how theories such as social reproduction theory and xenofeminism negotiate the gender politics of today.
- Politics of the Right
This module examines the history and theory of the right to shed light on its contemporary political manifestations. It considers the history, theory and practice of conservatism, nationalism, fascism, neoliberalism and the New Right and examines the new modes the right has utilised in the twenty-first century and what impact these have had.
- Colonialism, Capitalism and Climate Crisis
This module discusses the history of environmental destruction, beginning with early colonial interventions in the Canary Islands. You will explore debates concerning the origins of climate crisis in relation to colonialism, the emergence of capitalism and the industrial revolution. You will also look at the contemporary rethinking of a politics of care in relationship to environmental politics.
*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.
Placements
Spend a year on placement
Gain valuable experience and earn money during an optional placement year following year 2. You’ll return to the final year of your degree with added confidence, real-world experience and valuable contacts.
A placement year significantly improves your CV, giving you a distinct advantage over others when applying for jobs and starting your career. It will also help you to develop the softer skills such as communication and teamwork.
For the assessed part of your placement, you will create a reflective piece of work on professional practice and skills.
The university has links with a wide range of organisations including in health, culture and heritage, housing, councils, the police, the probation service, policy think tanks and charities.
Our dedicated Placements and Employability team will support you in getting a placement that meets with your interests and career ambitions. They can help with CVs and cover letter writing, applications, online testing and more. Plus, they’ll provide support and guidance when you’re on placement and make sure that everything is going well.
Other placement opportunities
In your second year you can gain real-world experience on placement with the option module Experiencing the Workplace: Practices and the Community.
You’ll spend 40 hours working with an organisation and put into practice your learnings in relation to policies, politics and communication, reflecting on issues such as gender, race and class representation.
Through the placement you will develop transferrable employability skills and abilities, such as teamwork and problem-solving, and gain an insight into potential career paths – all while actively contributing to the community.
We will help you find a placement that suits your interests and support you to build your CV and with interview preparation.
Our politics students have spent their placement with organisations including:
- Sussex Prisoners Families.
Lab facilities
Mithras House has a series of lab rooms which can be used for teaching on your course or in your independent research work.
Life lab
A skills-based lab for practice-based teaching, social work, psychotherapy and counselling, and employability. The Life lab is fitted with lounge furniture to provide a comfortable space for conducting qualitative research with larger groups. The lab can be used to conduct research activities with children of all ages and can be used for meetings and events. The room also contains a dedicated space to conduct assessed role play or interviews with children.
City lab
This is a qualitative research methods and creative methods resource for all students, staff and researchers, as well as research participants, including children, community groups and the general public. It can also be used for meetings and events. The City lab contains a kitchen, a teaching/meeting room with enhanced acoustic isolation and two meeting spaces that can be separated with a screen or combined to accommodate larger groups.
Design lab
Housing our extensive collection of historic dress and textiles, which are used in some teaching on our History of Art and Design courses, this has the space and equipment for you to work on textile projects. Displays created by students on these programmes are on view in the social spaces of the building.
Community lab
The Community Lab is a flexible teaching space designed for collaborative student learning and for working on qualitative research projects with a range of participants.
Stats lab
The Stats Lab is a specialist workspace for carrying out statistical analysis, and video and audio editing projects. The Stats Lab is also used for workshops, demonstrations and seminars and can be used by students as a study space.
Applied cognition lab
A dedicated research space for psychological research involving measures such as electrodermal activity (EDA) and electroencephalography (EEG). The space is designed to allow the participant and researcher to sit at separate desks whilst psychophysiological data is being collected.
VR and eye tracking lab
The VR and Eye-Tracking Lab is used for psychological research using equipment, such as eye-trackers and virtual reality headsets. The space has adjustable lighting and a blackout blind for maintaining consistent lighting conditions during eye-tracking research, as well as sensors set up in the room to allow individuals to move freely around the room during virtual reality research.
Take a video tour of the labs with technicians Andrea and Grace
Meet the team
Our staff are widely published experts in politics and gender and sexuality studies. You will be designated a personal academic tutor – normally the same tutor throughout your degree – who you will meet with regularly to discuss your academic progress.
Dr Jo Kellond (she/her), course leader
Jo’s research and teaching centres on the relationship between politics, gender and sexuality, with a particular focus on questions related to care, capitalism and social change.
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Other staff who teach on the course include:
- Dr Chrystie Myketiak .
- Dr Zoe Sutherland .
- Dr Rebecca Searle s full profile.
- Dr Federica Formato s full profile.
- Dr Joe Ronan s full profile.
- Dr Vedrana Velickovic – s full profile.
- Dr Vicky Margree – s full profile.
- Dr German Primera Villamizar – .
- Dr Andy Knott –
- Prof Mark Devenney – .
- Dr Robin Jervis –
- Dr Chris Wyatt – .
- Dr Robin Dunford – .
- Dr Heba Youssef –
- Dr Vasileios Leontitsis – .
- Dr Clare Woodford – .
Dr Jo Kellond