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School of Politics and International Relations

Professor Sophie Harman, BSocSci Politics (Manchester), MA International Political Economy (Manchester), PhD Politics (Manchester)

Sophie

Professor of International Politics

Email: s.harman@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7882 5917
Room Number: Arts One, 2.20B
Twitter: @DrSophieHarman
Office Hours: On Sabbatical 2023/24.

Profile

Sophie is Professor of International Politics with a specific interest in global health, African Agency, film and visual methods, and gender politics. She has published seven books and numerous peer reviewed articles on these subjects.

She was awarded the Joni Lovenduski Prize for outstanding professional achievement by a mid-career scholar by the Political Science Association (PSA) in 2018, the Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2018, and nominated for the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer in 2019 for her feature film Pili.

She is currently writing her first book for a general audience, Sick of It about the politics of women’s health, to be published by Virago/Little Brown in 2024. She is represented by Andrew Gordon, at David Higham Associates.

Sophie’s COVID-19 work has included being a founding member of the Gender and COVID-19 working group, a joint collaboration with UN Women, advisor to the CIHR Gender and COVID-19 project, a series of videos on Global Health Security for the Mile End Institute, sharing global health teaching materials, and various briefings to the UK government and UN on different aspects of the global politics of COVID-19.

She has undertaken research projects on Global Health Governance, the World Bank and HIV/AIDS, partnerships in health in Africa, the 2014/15 Ebola response, the governance of HIV/AIDS, and her film project, Pili. These interests have informed her teaching on the modules Global Health Politics, Africa and International Relations, and Global Governance.

Sophie’s teaching and research draws on her extensive fieldwork experience in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and the global health and international political economy hubs of Geneva, Washington DC and New York.

In addition to her research and teaching, she is Visiting Professor at HEARD, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and acts as mentor as part of various QM and external initiatives. She was pivotal in establishing the British International Studies Association (BISA) Global Health Working Group and was co-editor of the Review of International Studies 2015-2019. She has consulted to WHO and UNDP.

Sophie began her academic career with a PhD at the University of Manchester. She then went on to posts in CSGR, University of Warwick, and the Department of International Politics, City University, before joining QMUL in 2012.

Office hour joining link 

Research

Research Interests:

Sophie conducts research on Global Health Politics, Africa and International Relations, Gender and Feminist IR, film, and visual politics.

She has expertise on: the politics of COVID-19; Global Health Governance; the 2014/15 Ebola outbreak; HIV/AIDS; film-making as method; African agency and the Tanzanian state, and women and gender in global health.

She also knows stuff about film production, academic publishing, women in academia and mentoring, judging book prizes, and being a Director of Teaching.

Her research background is in International Political Economy.

 

Examples of research funding:

  • Advisor, ‘The Gender and COVID-19 Project’ Canadian Institutes of Health Research, https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/gendercovid.html, CAN$494, 524
  • Philip Leverhulme Award, 2018, £100,000
  • Axa Insurance Outlook Award - ‘Expired on the Shelf: Everyday Risk and HIV/AIDS’ - €250,000
  • HEFCE Student Opportunity Fund - £24,000 (with Cathy McIlwane, School of Geography, QMUL).
  • Queen Mary Innovation Fund ‘Expired on the Shelf’ (PI) - £7.500.
  • Wellcome Trust Small Grant 2012 ‘Leadership in Global Health Governance’ (Principal Investigator) with Simon Rushton, Aberystwyth University, £5000
  • Equinet Global Health Diplomacy, 2012-2013 (with University of Sheffield, University of Zambia, University of Dar es Salaam), £40,000
  • ESRC Seminar Series award 2010/2011 African Agency in International Politics (Principal Investigator) with Will Brown, Open University (Co-Investigator), £18,000
  • ESRC +3 PhD Scholarship (2004 – 2007)

Publications

Books

Sick of It, to be published with Virago/Little Brown, March 2024

Seeing Politics: film, visual method, and International Relations (McGill Queens University Press, 2019)

Global Health Governance (Routledge Series on Global Institutions) Abingdon: Routledge (2012)

The World Bank and HIV/AIDS: Setting a Global Agenda Abingdon: Routledge (2010)

The Global Politics of Health Reform in Africa: Participation and Performance (Palgrave MacMillan, January 2015)

Film

PILI http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5827020/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Nominated for BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer http://www.bafta.org/film/awards/ee-british-academy-film-awards-nominees-winners-2019#outstanding-debut-by-a-british-writer-director-or-producer 2019

Edited Books

(co-edited with Franklyn Lisk) Governance of HIV/AIDS Responses: Making Participation and Accountability Count  Routledge Abingdon: Routledge (2009)

(co-edited with William Brown) African Agency in International Politics Routledge (2013)

(co-edited with David Williams) Governing the world? The practice of global governance Routledge (2013)

Journal Articles

(with Clare Wenham). ‘The UN Security Council and gender in health emergencies: what comes next?’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 76:1, (2022)22-26, DOI: 10.1080/10357718.2021.201783

(with Rosemary Morgan, Sara E Davies, Huiyun Feng, Connie C R Gan, Karen A Grépin, Sophie Harman, Asha Herten-Crabb, Julia Smith, Clare Wenham) ‘Using Gender Analysis Matrixes to Integrate a Gender Lens Into Infectious Diseases Outbreaks Research’, Health Policy and Planning, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab149

(with Parsa Erfani, Tanashe Goronga, Michelle Morse, Jason Hickel, and Eugene Richardson) ‘Global vaccine equity demands reparative justice – not charity’ BMJ Global Health (2021, 6e006504) https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/6/e006504

 ‘Threat not Solution: Gender, Global Health Security, and COVID-19’ International Affairs (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiab012

(with Julia Smith, Sara E. Davies, Huiyun Feng, Connie C. R. Gan, Karen A. Grépin, Asha Herten-Crabb, Rosemary Morgan, Nimisha Vandan & Clare Wenham). (2021) ‘More than a public health crisis: A feminist political economic analysis of COVID-19,’ Global Public Health, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2021.1896765 

‘COVID-19, the UN, and dispersed global health security’ Ethics and International Affairs (Fall, 2020, pp373-378) 

(with A.Herten-Crabb, R. Morgan, J. Smith, and C. Wenham) ‘COVID-19 Vaccines and women’s security’ The Lancet 22nd December 2020.  

‘The Danger of Stories in Global Health’ The Lancet March 2020, 395 (10226): 777

(with C. Wenham, J. Smith, R. Morgan et al) ‘COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak’ The Lancet, March 2020, 396 (10227): 846-848 

(with C. Wenham et al) ‘Women are more affected by pandemics – lessons from past outbreaks’ Nature, 8th July 2020 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02006-z 

(with Sara E Davies) (2020) ‘Securing Reproductive Health: a matter of peace and international security’ International Studies Quarterly 64 (2) 277–284, https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqaa020

(with S. Davies, R. Manjoo, M. Tanyag and C. Wenham) ‘Why it must be a feminist global health agenda’ The Lancet (February 2019).

(with Sara E Davies) ‘President Trump as Global Health’s Displacement Activity’ Review of International Studies (accepted, forthcoming 2019).

‘Making the invisible visible in International Relations: film, co-produced research, and transnational feminism’ European Journal of International Relations (accepted and available online November 2017 https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066117741353)

(with Clare Wenham) ‘Governing Ebola: Between Global Health and Medical Humanitarianism’ Globalizations (2018).

‘Film as research method in African Politics and International Relations: reading and writing HIV/AIDS in Tanzania’ African Affairs 2016, (115: 461) pp733-750

(with Amy Barnes and Garrett W. Brown) 'Understanding global health and development partnerships: Perspectives from African and global health system professionals' Social Science & Medicine (June 2016)

'Norms Won’t Save You: Ebola And The Norm Of Global Health Security' Global Health Governance (2016)

‘Ebola, Gender and Conspicuously Invisible Women in Global Health Governance’ Third World Quarterly (2016)

‘The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Legitimacy in Global Health Governance’ Global Governance (2016)

(with Barnes, A. and Brown, GW). ‘Locating health diplomacy through African negotiations on performance-based funding in global health.’ Journal of Health Diplomacy, 2015, Vol.1, Issue 3.

’15 years of ‘War on AIDS’: what impact has the global HIV/AIDS response had on the political economy of Africa?’ Review of African Political Economy 42 (145): 467-476

(with Lucy Ferguson) ‘Gender and Infrastructure in the World Bank’ Development Policy Review (forthcoming 2015)

(with David Williams) ‘Development in Transition’ International Affairs (June 2014)

(with Simon Rushton) ‘Leadership in Global Health Governance’ Global Health Governance (June 2014).

(with James Scott) ‘Beyond TRIPs: Why the WTO’s Doha Round is Unhealthy’ Third World Quarterly (2013, 34:8).

(with William Brown) ‘In from the margins? The changing place of Africa in International Relations’ International Affairs (2013, 89:1).

‘Governing Health Risk by Buying Behaviour’ Political Studies (2011, 59:4)

‘Searching for an Executive Head? Leadership and UNAIDS’ Global Governance (2011, 17(4)

‘The Dual Feminisation of HIV/AIDS’ Globalizations (2011, 8:2)

‘Fighting HIV/AIDS: Reconfiguring the state?’ Review of African Political Economy (2009, 36:121)

‘Bottlenecks and benevolence: how the World Bank is helping communities to ‘cope’ with HIV/AIDS’ Journal of Health Management (2009, 11:2, 279-313)

‘Introduction: New Directions in International Relations and Africa’ with William Brown, Stephen Hurt, Donna Lee and Karen Smith Roundtable (2009, 98:402, 263-267)

‘The World Bank: Failing the Multi-Country AIDS Program (MAP): Failing HIV/AIDS’ Global Governance (October-December 2007, 13:4, 485-492)

Chapters in book

‘Global Health’ in J. Baylis, P. Owens, and S. Smith (eds) The Globalization of World Politics: an Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 9th edition, forthcoming)

‘Global Health Governance’ in R. Wilkinson and T. Weiss Global Governance and International Organisation (Routledge, 2013, 2nd edition 2018, 3rd edition forthcoming)

‘Who consumes? How the represented respond to popular representations of development’ in D. Lewis, D. Rodgers, and M. Woolcock (eds) New Mediums, Better Messages? How innovations in translation, engagement, and advocacy are changing international development (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).

Conclusion: Violence and the Paradox of Global Health’ in T. Vaittinen and C. Confortini (eds) Gender, Global Health, and Violence: Feminist Perspectives on Peace and Disease London: Rowman & Littlefield 

‘Global Health Governance’ in R. Wilkinson and T. Weiss Global Governance and International Organisation (Routledge, 2013, forthcoming 2nd edition 2018)

‘Innovation and the perils of rebranded privatisation: the case of neoliberal global health’ A. Payne and N. Phillips (eds) Handbook of the International Political Economy of Governance (forthcoming, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014)

‘Critical reflections on global health policy formation’ G.W. Brown and G. Yarney (eds) Handbook of Global Health Policy (Wiley Blackwell, 2014)

‘Global Health Governance’ in R. Wilkinson and T. Weiss Global Governance and International Organisation (Routledge, 2013)

‘International Health Governance’ in Oxford Bibliographies in International Relations. Ed. David Armstrong. New York: Oxford University Press, (2013).

‘Women and the Millennium Development Goals: too little too late too gendered’ R. Wilkinson and D. Hulme (eds) Beyond the Millennium Development Goals (forthcoming, Routledge, 2012)

‘The World Bank and Global Health’ in O. Williams and A. Kay The Crisis of Global Health Governance: Challenges, Institutions and Political Economy  Basingstoke: Palgrave (2009)

‘The Causes, Contours and Consequences of Multi-Sectoralism within the HIV/AIDS response’ Governance of HIV/AIDS Responses: Making Participation and Accountability Count Abingdon: Routledge (2009)

Book Reviews

‘Me not you: the trouble with mainstream feminism’ The Sociological Review (September 2020) 

‘Sensible Politics’ LSE Review of Books (June 2020)

‘Rebels in a Rotten State’ International Affairs (2017; 93:3)

‘International Security, Conflict and Gender: ‘HIV/AIDS is another war’ International Feminist Journal of Politics (2013, 15:1)

‘AIDS, Illness and African well-being’, Journal of Modern African Studies (2009, 47:1)

‘AIDS, South Africa, and the Politics of Knowledge’, Journal of Modern African Studies (June 2008, 46:2)

Policy Papers
UNDP Governance and HIV/AIDS: Operational Policy & Implementation Framework (UNDP, November 2006).

UNDP E-Discussion on Governance of HIV/AIDS moderator (November-December 2006)

Supervision

I welcome research supervision in the following areas:

  • Global Health Politics
  • Africa and International Politics
  • Feminist International Political Economy
  • Visual Method

Current PhD Student(s):

  • Fawzia Gibson-Fall, Military involvement in health in Sub Saharan Africa, a multilevel analysis
  • Felix Mantz, Pan-African anti-colonialism in the Anthropocene: Beyond the Coloniality of Nature and towards Decolonial Futures

Public Engagement

Awards

  • BAFTA Nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer, 2019
  • Philip Leverhulme Prize, 2018
  • Joni Lovenduski Prize, for outstanding professional achievement by a midcareer scholar (2017/18)
  • Hitchcock Public Award for ‘Pili’ Dinard British Film Festival 2017
  • Jury Special Mention for Screenplay for ‘Pili’ Dinard British Film Festival 2017
  • Public Engagement Involve Award for ‘Pili’, QMUL Enterprise and Engagement Awards 2017

Professional Associations

  • Executive Committee member of ISA Global Health Section
  • Member Academic Panel ESRC Seminar Series Committee (February 2014 - )
  • External Examiner, International Development, Open University (2012 – 2016)
  • External Examiner, International Relations, Open University (2014- 2015)
  • Trustee and Executive Committee member of the British International Studies Association (BISA) (2010-2012)
  • Judge, BISA Nicholson Prize, 2013
  • Judge, ISA Global Health Book Prize 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
  • Judge, ISA Global Health Graduate Student Prize 2015, 2016
  • Founder and Co-convenor of BISA working group on Global Health (with Stefan Elbe and Adam Kamradt-Scott) (2010 – 2016

Impact and Knowledge Transfer

  • Policy Consultant. World Health Organisation, Health Promotion. (2013 - ).
  • Policy Consultant. Bureau of Development Policy, HIV/AIDS Group, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2006 - 2007)
  • Expert Opinion: The Independent, The Guardian, Voice of America, Associated Press, The Lancet, Open Democracy, The Conversation, New Statesman
  • Blogger Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/sophie-harman
  • Founding trustee of Trans Tanz (UK Reg. Charity No. 1117510; Tz Reg. Society No. 14756), a charity that provides transportation to healthcare facilities for people living with HIV/AIDS in rural Tanzania. For further information please visit www.transtanz.org

 

Grants

  • Wellcome Trust Small Grant 2012 ‘Leadership in Global Health Governance’ (Principal Investigator) with Simon Rushton, Aberystwyth University (Co-Investigator)
  • Equinet Global Health Diplomacy Grant 2012 - 2013 ‘African Actors and Global Health Governance’ (Co-Lead) with Amy Barnes and Garrett Wallace Brown, University of Sheffield (Lead Institution)
  • ESRC Seminar Series award 2010/2011 African Agency in International Politics (Principal Investigator) with Will Brown, Open University (Co-Investigator)
  • ESRC +3 PhD Scholarship (2004 – 2007)
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