PIR Society

 PIRSoc Logo 2012  

PIRSoc Pic 1PIRSoc Pic 2PIRSoc Pic 3

The Politics and International Relations Society, founded in 2004, is the Department's very own student-run organisation. The PIRSoc organises debates, guest speakers from the political world, trips abroad and social occasions. Each student in the department is invited to become a member of PIRSoc.

The PIRSoc is a an extremely active, student-run academic society. It is comprised out of eight enthusiastic executives, who are dedicated to promoting various intellectually-stimulating opportunities for all PIRSoc members and to create a strong community bond between them. This year the PIRSoc is continuing to organise the NMUN trip to New York and will be selecting a delegation to participate in the world's largest NMUN Conference at the UN Headquarters.

This is a unique opportunity for all those interested in worldwide affairs to develop skills such as diplomacy, public speaking, negotiating, and resolution-writing whilst meeting people from all over the world. Such experience is particularly useful and relevant to students of Politics and International Relations with a desire to become better global citizens and develop a better understanding of contemporary international issues. Last year the Royal Holloway NMUN team were awarded an Outstanding Delegation award, Placing us in the top 5% of 250 Universities.

Furthermore, this year we have worked hard on developing a working relationship with the International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague (IYLC) which we will be attending in January.  The PIRSoc also directs its focus towards creating exciting academic and social events such as, trips to the Houses of Parliament, cinematic forums, attention-grabbing guest speakers and various socials. The PIRSoc is a unique society for those willing to discover and with an enthusiasm for participating in student life.

This year we will also be redirecting our focus to better provide students with assistance in career and internship opportunities. Each student in the department is invited to become a member of PIRSoc, however we also welcome students from other degree programs who are interested in pursuing a career in this area of study or simply want to join for the fun of it .

For regular updates on upcoming events please join our Facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/131729379572/|

More information for NMUN and IYLC can be found at

http://www.iylcprague.org/|

http://www.nmun.org/|

The PIR Society can be contacted by email on rhul.pirsocgmail.com|

Carmen de JongPresident: Carmen de Jong (right)
Secretary: Emily Westwell
Treasurer: Jason Michalski
Academic events Coordinator: Sonja Väisänen
NMUN Officer: Eytan Toledo
NMUN Head delegate: Johanna Englund
Editor to the Participant: Anton Badstuber
Social Events and Volunteering Officer: Rachael Adams

The PIRSoc has a continuing tradition of organising the delegation for NMUN at the UN Headquarters. In this conference 4,000 students world-wide participate in the forum which is closely modeled to develop diplomatic skills, negotiating and resolution writing. This is a once in a life time opportunity for students to be involved in contemporary international issues. In addition to this, for a couple of days students can become real diplomats from particular country and make certain decisions which affect international affairs.

The NMUN delegation in 2008 represented Colombia and received an Honourable Mention award which is one of the greatest achievements of the PIRSoc so far.

The 2009 delegation headed by the president Seiji Nishio represented Algeria and was the largest team ever taken by the PIRSoc. Two of the delegates - Yvonne Jeffery and Philip Marsh - this year won an Outstanding Delegation award which is the highest type of award given at the NMUN conference. They represented the Russian Federation in the additional Security Council committee. More...|

In 2010 an 18-student delegation from Royal Holloway represented Republic of Mauritius in the conference and received the Honorable Mention award. More...|

In 2011 a 22-student delegation from Royal Holloway represented Zambia in the conference and was awarded the highly acclaimed Distinguished Delegation award. More...|

In 2012 a 20-student delegation from Royal Holloway represented Venezuela and won the Outstanding Delegation award, the highest team award available. More...|

The PIRSoc committee 2012-13 will be recruiting new delegates in the Autumn term. The dates for the NMUN conference are late March 2013 in New York. http://www.nmun.org/|

For further details please contact the Academic Events Coordinator, Sonja Vaisanen, on Sonja.Vaisanen.2010live.rhul.ac.uk|

15th of October: Developments in Sub-Saharan Security Speaker A: Thomas Cargill (Assistant Head and Research Fellow, Africa Programme, Chatham House) Speaker B: Dr. Julia Gallagher (Royal Holloway, University of London)

25th of October: International implications of the “Arab Spring” Speaker A: Alan Philps (Editor, The World Today, Published by Chatham House) Speaker B: Chris Doyle (Director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding)

21st of November: Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in the Modern World Speaker: James Kearney (Peace and Security Programmes Director, United Nations Association UK)

22nd of November: The German Security Agenda Speaker: Dr. Rudolf Adam (Minister and Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany)

26th of November: The Ideology and Rhetoric of Silence, Joint Event with the RHUL Italian Society Speaker A: Dr. Julia Bolton Holloway (PhD Berkley) Speaker B: Pier Angiolo Cetica (Head of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence, Italy)

21st of January: Developments in UK-EU Relations Speaker: Nigel Farage MEP (Head of United Kingdom Independence Party)

25th of January: British Security Today Speaker: Rt. Hon Philip Hammond MP (UK Secretary of State for Defense)

30th of January: Topic TBC Speaker: Norman Baker (MP for Lewes, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport)

6th of February: Working with China Speaker: Dr. Robin Niblett (Director, Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs)

 

 

 
 
 

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