Judith Squires

Professor Squires obtained her first degree in Politics from the University of Edinburgh and then completed her PhD in Political Theory at the University of London. After completing her doctoral studies she worked at the Institute of Contemporary Arts as Associate Director of Lectures and Seminars for two years before joining Bristol University in 1990 as Lecturer in Politics. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2000 and became Professor of Political Theory in 2005. She was Dean of Social Sciences and Law in 2009-13. She was also the Director of the ESRC South West Doctoral Training Centre 2010-13.

Professor Squires is a political theorist. Her research has focused on gendered analyses of theoretical debates concerning equality, representation and citizenship. Her publications have interrogated the changing ways in which gender equality is conceived within liberal democracies, with a focus on women’s policy agencies, gender mainstreaming and gender quotas as three recent manifestations of contemporary equality strategies. She has advised over twenty PhD. students to successful completion. She been on the editorial boards of a wide range of social science journals, including New Formations, Government and Opposition, Economy and Society, and International Feminist Journal of Politics. She is currently on the Advisory Board for Bristol University Press.

She took up the post of Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost in January 2019. Prior to this she was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students at the University of Bristol, August 2013- December 2018 and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, 2009-13. She was a member of the REF Politics and International Studies sub-panel 21, 2014. She was a Council member of the Economic and Social Research Council 2014-18, Chair of the ESRC Capability Committee 2016-18 and a member of the ESRC Training and Skills Committee 2010-14. She is currently Chair of the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership Board and a member of Bristol's Festival of Ideas Advisory Board. She was a founding member of the Bristol Learning City Partnership Board and is a member of Bristol Green Capital Partnership. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the RSA.