Aleks Szczerbiak

Aleks Szczerbiak is Professor of Politics and Contemporary European Studies. He is currently Director of Doctoral Studies for Law, Politics and Sociology and was Co-Director of the Sussex European Institute (SEI) from 2006-14.

Aleks graduated from the University of Sheffield and, following a few years spent working as a political researcher and consultant, returned to take a Masters degree at Birkbeck College, University of London and PhD at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. He started lecturing at Sussex in 1998.

His research and teaching has focused on: comparative Central and East European politics (especially Poland), the impact of European integration on national politics (including the politics of Euroscepticism), political parties and electoral politics, and the politics of transitional justice in post-communist states.

Aleks is author of 'Poles Together? The Emergence and Development of Political Parties in Post-communist Poland' (Central European University Press, 2001) and 'Poland Within the European Union: New Awkward Partner or New Heart of Europe?' (Routledge, 2012). He is co-editor (with his Sussex colleague Prof Paul Taggart) of 'EU Enlargement and Referendums' (Routledge 2004) and 'Opposing Europe: The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism in Contemporary Europe' (Oxford University Press 2008), and (with Sean Hanley) of 'Centre-Right Parties in Post-Communist East-Central Europ'e (Routledge 2004). He is currently working on a book on the politics of transitional justice in post-communist Poland.

He is the co-convenor (with Prof Paul Taggart) of the ‘European Parties Elections and Referendums Network’ (EPERN) and Associate Editor of the ‘Party Politics’ journal. He is also on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the ‘Journal of Common Market Studies’, ‘Perspectives on European Politics and Society’ and ‘East European Politics’ journals. Aleks is a member of the European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO) Observatory on Political Parties and Representation.

Previously, Aleks was Associate Director of the ESRC 'One Europe Or Several' Programme (2001-2003), convenor of the PSA Specialist Group on Communist and Post-Communist Politics (1999-2002), and Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of Institutional Affairs (RIIA) European Programme (2002-2007). Aleks was also the 2004 Main Prize Winner of the Political Studies Association Sir Bernard Crick Prize for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science.

Aleks also publishes a research blog analysing the contemporary Polish political scene at: http://polishpoliticsblog.wordpress.com/.