Julia Carver

International Relations (2021 cohort)

My doctoral research aims to elucidate how particular notions of geopolitics and sovereignty have shaped the EU’s evolution as a distinctive type of foreign policy actor in cyberspace, and to consider the broader theoretical implications of my findings for IR theories of power and strategy in the cyber domain. In doing so, I aim to make sense of the EU’s growing assertiveness in cyber politics, with attention to the challenges this phenomenon poses to the realist and state-centric schools of thought in extant cyber literature.  

I am a DPhil candidate in International Relations at Nuffield College (University of Oxford), under the supervision of Dr. Robert Johnson and Professor Dominic Johnson. My research explores the interplay between geopolitical strategic thought, sovereignty, and the development of cybersecurity policy by the European Union. My project expands upon the research I had undertaken while reading for the MPhil in European Politics and Society programme (at Oxford’s DPIR), for which I was awarded a Degree with Distinction. While undertaking my MPhil degree, I volunteered as a Co-Theme Section Editor for St. Anthony’s International Review, Oxford’s sole student-run, peer-reviewed international affairs publication. Prior to graduate studies at Oxford, I obtained a BA (Hons. with Distinction) in Political Studies and World Language Studies at Queen’s University, in Canada. At Queen’s, I was the recipient of three subject prizes for politics and one for German language/cultural studies, and I maintained a full, four-year scholarship as one of the university’s national Chancellor’s Scholars. At present, I conduct research as a Desk Officer at Oxford’s Changing Character of War Centre (Statecraft and Strategy), and I have previously worked as a research assistant for politics departments at Oxford and during my undergraduate degree at Queen’s University, respectively.