The Institute of Commonwealth Studies, founded in 1949, is the sole postgraduate academic institution in the United Kingdom devoted to the study of

the Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territorial evolution of the British Empire ...

. It is also home to the longest-running interdisciplinary and practice-oriented human rights MA programme in the UK. The institute is a national and international centre of excellence for policy-relevant research, research facilitation and teaching. As a member of the School of Advanced Study, established in 1994, the institute works with nine other prestigious postgraduate research institutes to offer academic opportunities across and between a wide range of subject fields in the humanities and social sciences. The institute's library is an international resource holding more than 190,000 volumes, with particularly impressive Caribbean, Southern African and Australian holdings and over 200 archival collections.

Notable academics

* Shula Marks, lecturer from 1963 to 1976 *

Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri (1935–2016) was an Indian political scientist, political historian and international relations expert. He was a senior research fellow in international relations at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Univers ...

, senior research fellow in international relations *

Krishnan Srinivasan Krishnan Srinivasan (born 15 February 1937) is a retired Indian diplomat, historian, author, former Indian Foreign Secretary, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations . He was born in Madras, India and educated at Bedford ...

, fellow from 2002 to 2008 * Susan Williams, senior research fellow

List of directors

* 1949–1957: Keith Hancock * 1957–1965: Kenneth Robinson * 1998–2000: Professor Pat Caplan * September 2009–present: Professor Philip Murphy

Notable alumni

Richard Fell Richard Taylor Fell CVO (born 11 November 1948) was the British High Commissioner to New Zealand and the colonial Governor of the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands (of which only Pitcairn is inhabited) from 2001 to 2006. He was ...

References

External links

Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Commonwealth Studies Commonwealth Family Educational institutions established in 1949 Caribbean studies 1949 establishments in England Research institutes established in 1949 {{UK-university-stub