New centre created to explore the rise of ‘emotional politics’

The importance of feelings for politics is at the heart of an exciting new London universities joint venture.

A new interdisciplinary ‘Centre for the Politics of Feelings’ will be established in September 2021 at the University of London in a partnership between its School of Advanced Study and Royal Holloway, University of London, with the generous support of the NOMIS Foundation.

The centre will be led by Manos Tsakiris, professor of psychology at Royal Holloway, and aims to address, from a multidisciplinary perspective, how emotions and their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms shape our political beliefs and behaviour, as well as how politics shape and exploit our emotions.

Research fellows across life sciences, social sciences and the humanities will form the first generation of scholars to work at the centre. Beyond its core team based in London, it will also forge collaborations with other academic and non-academic partners and will be supported by an international advisory board of leading scientists and scholars.

While the presence of emotions in politics has long been assumed, the centre intends to bring a new and unique interdisciplinary perspective, creating the intellectual space where different disciplines can work together to understand the intricate relation between emotions and politics in the 21st century of increasing polarisation, fake news, social media, precarious health and rising populism.

Professor Jo Fox, Dean of the School of Advanced Study and the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Public Engagement), said: “Understanding the deep connections between emotion and politics is especially important in our increasingly unstable and febrile political atmosphere. We’re thrilled that the centre will be based in the School of Advanced Study and that we are part of this significant initiative.”

To learn more about the Centre, please visit: www.politics-of-feelings.com