Dr Kamil Zwolski

Dr Zwolski is an award winning teacher, National Teaching Fellow (2022) and Senior Fellow of Advance HE. He is committed to improve student learning through high-impact pedagogies including gamification, staff-student partnerships, research-informed teaching and other active-learning approaches.

In 2019, Dr Zwolski received the Southampton Students' Union Academic Award for his innovative staff-students partnership initiative, allowing students to work with staff on assessment and feedback. For this initiative, Dr Zwolski was also announced the Finalist of the 2019 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards.

As part of his Jean Monnet Chair award, Dr Zwolski began researching and popularising research-informed teaching in European Studies and International Relations. To that end, his annual Jean Monnet Workshop ‘Research-informed Teaching in EU Studies’ offers inclusive and encouraging space to exchange knowledge and best practice among EU studies teachers. 

Dr Zwolski combines excellence in research and teaching. He received numerous awards for both, including most recently the EU's Jean Monnet Module award in 2023 and Jean Monnet Chair award in 2019. In 2022, Dr Zwolski received the highest UK higher education distinction, the National Teaching Fellowship award.

Modules taught:

• Level 1: Introduction to International Relations (convened)
• Level 2/3: European Security Governance (convened)
• Level 2/3: European Power and the Geopolitics of Europe and Asia (convened)
• Level 2/3: Imagining European Futures (convened)
• Level 2: Contemporary Security Studies (convened)
• Level 2: The Government and Politics of the European Union (convened)
• Level 2: Theories of International Relations (convened)
• Level 2: Issues in Contemporary History
• Level 2: Issues in International Relations and Politics
• Level 3: Conduct of Foreign Policy (convened)
• Level 3: EU in International Relations (convened)
• Level 3: European Union Simulation
• Level 3: Policies and Policy-making in the European Union
• Level 3: International History post 1945
• Level 3: US Foreign Policy post 1945
• PGT: International Relations Theories (convened)
• PGT: Introduction to Security Studies (convened)
• PGT: Issues in International Politics
• PGT: Terrorism: Threat and Response (convened)

Recently, Dr Zwolski published his 3rd book Researching European Security Integration, which challenges established ways of conducting research in this field, with the view to open up new methodological, theoretical and empirical research avenues for the benefit of the young generation of scholars in EU studies.

Dr Zwolski's previous book, European Security in Integration Theory (2018), examines federalism and functionalism – two fundamental, yet largely forgotten, theories of international integration, in the context of the war in Ukraine and contemporary European security order. 

Dr Zwolski's first book, The EU as a Global Security Actor (2013, co-authored by Prof Christian Kaunert), adopts a comprehensive approach to the study of the EU’s role in international security.

Dr Zwolski also regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals. Notably, he published on David Mitrany and contemporary European security order (JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies); power relations in the so-called communities of practice in international relations (Journal of European Integration); or how the study of the sociology of bureaucracy and bureaucratic behaviour in international relations can help to explain the EU’s international security policy (JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies).

Dr Zwolski is often invited as a contributor and keynote speaker and his research excellence in the study of European security governance has been recognised by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, who invited Southampton’s Politics and International Relations (PAIR) department to become institutional members of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPD).

Further to his research interests, Dr Zwolski also leads Southampton University’s efforts on teaching and learning innovation. These efforts were recognised with the UK’s most prestigious award – National Teaching Fellowship, which Dr Zwolski received in 2022. Among other achievements, Dr Zwolski also received the 2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award for introducing online simulation to the teaching and assessment of his International Relations Theory module. 

In 2019, Dr Zwolski received the Southampton Students' Union Academic Award for his innovative staff-students partnership initiative, allowing students to work with staff on assessment and feedback. For this initiative, Kamil was also announced the Finalist of the 2019 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards.

In 2022, Dr Zwolski was invited by the University's Vice-President (Education & Student Experience) to lead on a University-wide project UoS Assessessment, gathering student views on assessment throughout the university, building on his earlier Student Partnership project.