Sarah Birch

Birch was born on 5 December 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.[1] She was educated at Dartmouth College, and, having majored in comparative literature, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1985.[4] She then moved to the United Kingdom to study at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford.[1] She graduated with a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in European literature in 1988, and completed a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1992.[1][4] Her doctoral thesis was titled "Christine Brooke-Rose and post-war writing in France".[5]

Having earned three degrees in literature, Birch turned to politics. She studied political behaviour at the University of Essex, graduating with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1994.[4] She remained at Essex to gain a further Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, which she completed in 1998.[1] Her doctoral thesis was tiled "The social determinants of electoral behaviour in Ukraine, 1989-1994".[6]

In 1996, while still studying for her second doctorate, Birch was appointed a lecturer at the University of Essex.[1] She was promoted to Reader in 2003, and appointed Professor of Politics in 2012.[1][3] From 2002 to 2011, she served as a co-editor of the British Journal of Political Science.[7] In July 2013, she joined the University of Glasgow where she had been appointed to the Chair of Comparative Politics.[2][7][8] In 2016, she joined King's College London as Professor of Political Science and Director of Research of its Department of Political Economy.[2][9]

In 2013, Birch was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.[2] In 2016, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), Scotland's national academy of science and letters.[3]

• Birch, Sarah (2011). Electoral malpractice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199606160.
• Allen, Nicholas; Birch, Sarah (2015). Ethics and Integrity in British Politics: How Citizens Judge their Politicians' Conduct and Why It Matters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107050501.