PhD students

YousefYousef Barahmeh received his MA in English Language and Literature from University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Preston, in 2012 under the supervision of Dr. Robin Purves on dissertation title: The poetry of Mahmoud Darwish: A Study of the Three Developmental Phases of his Poetic Career, prior to which he received his BA in English Language and Literature from Yarmouk University, Jordan with a final graduate project on Zelda Fitzgerald: The First Flapper in Jazz Age.Yousef is currently a PhD student in the School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies, University of Portsmouth where he is researching the cause effect of the Arab Spring in terms of informing satirical writings and changing ‘alternative’ communication practices with regard to the medium of ‘Netspeak satire’ and orders of discourse (postulated by Foucault, 1970).


Fabienne Chamelot is a PhD student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL). Her research explores French colonial administration and policy in the 20th century, focusing specifically on the management and organisation of colonial archives throughout the empire and within the French state. She has an MA in Social Sciences from the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales and the Ecole normale supérieure in Paris, and has completed one year as a visiting student at New York University. Before starting her PhD, she worked in the non-fiction publishing field in France, mostly at Gallimard and as a freelance editor.

Full profile


Camille Jacob is a PhD student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL). Her current work is funded by an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (in partnership with the British Council in Algiers) and examines the place of English in contemporary Algeria. It explores both discourses and practices around English through extensive fieldwork. Her wider research interests include linguistic practices in postcolonial settings, the production of discourses about languages and identity, and contemporary Algeria.

Before starting her PhD, Camille studied for a BA in Politics from the University of Nottingham, an MA in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from King’s College London. She has previously worked on education, culture and sport policies for the East Midlands European Office in Brussels and as a Sociology and Languages teacher in London.


SophieSophie Quintin Adali is a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL) (Department of Politics and International Relations) and a research assistant for West Africa Peace and Security Network project (SLAS). Her PhD project focuses on the nexus between maritime and energy security with the Gulf of Guinea as a case study. The economic prosperity of West Africa depends largely on an open and secure maritime domain. Growing insecurity in African waters notably in the Indian Ocean (Somalia piracy crisis) and the energy-rich maritime space of West Africa has put maritime security back on the busy international agenda. It has also opened a new era of maritime policy-making for Africa with the adoption by the African Union in 2014 of its first maritime security strategy. The study explores in a comparative analysis perspective the security responses of three major sea powers and allies – the USA, France and the United Kingdom – in an area where geostrategic stakes have been rising. After completing a traineeship with the European Commission in Brussels she embarked on an international career working for ECHO and the European Commission in various capacities in conflict areas in the African Great Lakes and Balkans regions (1995 to 2005). Since 2008 her opinion pieces have been published in leading international newspapers.

Full profile


KelseyKelsey Suggitt is a PhD student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL). Her research looks at the importance of land under French colonial rule, particularly in the Sahara during the Algerian War of Independence and the decolonisation of French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. This subject is explored through the micro history of the transnational organisation, the OCRS, which was created in 1957 by the French to economically and socially develop the Sahara. Kelsey has a BA in Combined Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and an MA Francophone Africa from the University of Portsmouth. She has just returned from a 9-month long internship in Cameroon at the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Full profile

Follow on twitter @kelseysailing


RoelRoel van der Velde is a PhD student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL). His research explores the role of the French armaments trade with the South African Apartheid regime and its relation to Gaullist foreign policy between 1964-1977, focusing particularly on the extent to which military-industrial actors engage in autonomous diplomatic practices that shape foreign policy. Roel has a BA in History from Utrecht University and an MA in Intelligence and Strategic Studies from the Univeristy of Aberystwyth. Before switching to academia, he worked in business and finance in the Netherlands.

Full profile

Follow on twitter @Roelvelde


DieunedortDieunedort Wandji is a PhD student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL). Dieunedort’s research aims to examine the “performative” nature of colonial boundaries against the backdrop of security issues in former EAF (Central Africa). Looking at insecurity, spatiality and social processes across four states in Africa, the project seeks to assess the extent to which failure to effectively conceptualise territorial space and historically contextualise state boundaries has impacted the design of security policies, instruments and infrastructures pertaining to the area of central Africa. This research will investigate relevant IR theories, and use data from policy instruments analysis as well as from interviews of local traditional actors.
Dieunedort holds a BA in Bilingual Studies from the University of Douala in Cameroon, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and a MA in Francophone Africa from the University of Portsmouth in the UK. Before starting his PhD, he had previously worked in the Education and in the International Development sectors both in Africa and in the UK.


Imene Medfouni is currently a PhD student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL), University of Portsmouth. Her research examines the status of English as a medium of instruction EMI in Algerian higher education. She is particularly interested in exploring language policy, practices and attitudes in Algerian linguistic settings (Francophone, Arabophone and Berbophone). Her research interests include English as a medium of Instruction, multilingualism and World Englishes.
She holds MA in Applied Linguistics and TEFL and a BA in Linguistics from Larbi Ben M’hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria.


Sorina Toltica is a PhD research student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL). Her current work is funded by South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership within the ESRC, assessing the character of contemporary US/UK counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency engagement in West Africa. It examines the drivers of military actions, the shaping of (and reactions to) changing regional security coalitions and the effects on counter terrorism, conflict resolution and political governance trajectories. Other research interests include conflict prevention and African Regional Organisations.

Sorina holds a BA in Languages and European Studies, an MA International Relations at the University of Portsmouth and a Masters in Social Research Methods at the University of Southampton. She has previously worked for West Africa Network for Peacebuilding Senegal (WANEP) on the Early Warning and Early Response Network (WARN). Twitter: @SorinaToltica


Paul Max Morin is a PhD student in political science at Sciences Po (Paris), under the supervision of Anne Muxel, with co-supervision at the UoP (School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature, with Natalya Vince). His research explores the memories young French people have of colonisation and the war in Algeria and how it might impact their political socialization. This research is funded by the French Ministry of Defence where he runs a national awareness raising programme on the history and memories of the war. He has an MA in Urban Policy from the LSE and Sciences Po. Before starting his PhD, he worked as the Executive Director of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM).


Meg Ison is a research student funded by the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership in collaboration with the ESRC. She holds a BA in French Studies from the University of Portsmouth and is undertaking her Masters in Social Research Methods at the University of Southampton. Her PhD research within the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL) at Portsmouth will be a negotiation of national and regional constructions of memory and silence in post-war France about the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane during the Nazi Occupation. Her main Area of study is Alsace and her wider research interests include ‘forgotten soldiers’ and ‘forgotten histories’, nation-state formation, the cultural and social politics of post-occupation/post-colonialism state commemoration, the ‘winners’ and the ‘losers’ of history and questions about national identity and national belonging.


Danielle Hayter is a PhD research student in the School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature (SASHPL) at Portsmouth. Danielle’s PhD research, funded by the ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership, explores the contemporary legitimisation devices and strategies of French military engagement and security policy in West Africa. Danielle’s wider research interests are interdisciplinary, drawing upon topics from several fields including but by no means being limited to: security, terrorism, conflict, identity, politics, strategy and military interventions. In particular, Danielle is interested in combining these broader topics with French Area Studies and the deconstruction of the power and dominance of Western discourse and knowledge. Danielle holds a BA in Combined Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and a MA International Relations and European Studies at the University of Portsmouth as well as a MSc Social Research Methods at the University of Southampton.