King's College London

Mitya, a member of the Department of Political Economy (DPE), recently passed his PhD thesis at a viva voce (or oral examination).

His research focused on the early history of the Green Party and the environmental movement in Britain. He looked at the importance of early environmental activists' experiences of concrete environmental threats and a new set of intellectual influences in the 1960s and 1970s to the creation of the party.

Mitya’s work was based on some 75 interviews and detailed archival research. Most of the interviewees had never been spoken to for research purposes while the bulk of the archive material was retrieved from activists' private collections of documents.

On passing, Mitya said: “It was a real relief to have finished though I have really enjoyed my time back at King’s College London. I am thankful to my examiners, Prof Glen O'Hara and Prof Andrew Thorpe, for working round the constraints of COVID-19 to run the viva.”

In April, Mitya started working at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, as a teaching associate, where he is teaching and lecturing on British politics.

Mitya’s primary research interest is in the environment and, following his successful PhD pass, he says he is now planning new research on the politics of climate change in Britain.

Mitya added: “I would like to thank everyone in DPE and King’s College London who have been so supportive and made the experience so useful and enjoyable. I would particularly like to thank my supervisors, Dr Michael Kandiah and Dr Andrew Blick, for their initial encouragement on the project and support in delivering it.”