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Algerian Studies Master's Dissertation Prize 2025

Society for Algerian Studies and LSE Middle East Centre

Congratulations to the LSE’s Coline Eisele and the Nottingham Trent University’s Raymond Conley-Smith for their prize-winning dissertations!

This year’s submissions covered a range of topics and disciplines from students across the UK. After close consideration, the Selection Committee awards first prize to Eisele’s dissertation, ‘Postcoloniality in the Metropole: Cultural Fractures and Affective Legacies in France after French Algeria'. And second prize is awarded to Conley-Smith’s dissertation on ‘An examination of the Hirak's role in influencing Algeria's place in the new world order: The Hirak and Algeria post-2019: redefining international perceptions and discourse?'.

Selection Committee comments:

Coline Eisele’s dissertation is beautifully written and grounded in postcolonial theory, affect and emotion, which provides a strong methodological framework. The author applies concepts connected to individual psychology to entities such as states, showing a good grounding in the relevant theoretical literature and an awareness of the criticisms of this kind of approach. There is a consistent effort to apply these different theories in ways that demonstrate both good subject knowledge and sophisticated skills of critical analysis.

The dissertation by Raymond Conley-Smith is both original and timely with its assessment of the significance of the Hirak movement in Algeria, especially in the wake of protests in recent years. It is well written, and the author’s passion for the subject was clear throughout. The project has clearly formulated research questions that aim to examine the longer-term changes resulting from the protests, particularly in Algeria's external political and economic relationships.

  • Headshot of Coline

    Coline holds an MSc in International Relations from LSE. Her research interests are political theory, postcolonial and decolonial approaches of IR, as well as collective identity and the afterlives of empire. She hopes to pursue academic research in these fields and do a PhD in the future.

  • Raymond Conley-Smith

    Raymond has an MA in International Relations from Nottingham Trent University. He is a senior leader in the Scottish Government, working in community justice. He has experience engaging both diplomatically and operationally with foreign governments, which informed his return to postgraduate study in international relations. He believes that international relations can and should be practical, inclusive and relevant beyond purely academic settings.

Launched by the Society for Algerian Studies and the LSE Middle East Centre in 2019, this prize is aimed at Master’s students in the UK conducting research on Algeria. It is designed to encourage and celebrate outstanding research focussed on Algeria.

For all enquiries, please contact Kendall Livingston, Projects and Research Development Manager: k.livingston@lse.ac.uk