We are sad to announce the passing of Professor AJR (‘John’) Groom, teacher of many Politics and IR students at CCCU between 2005 and 2015.

John joined CCCU in 2005 after a long and highly successful career as Professor and Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. Even in retirement, he was keen to continue sharing his passion for International Relations with new generations of students. In his time with us at CCCU, John taught a wide range of International Relations modules at all levels of study and was actively involved in PhD supervision. 

John was a great teacher and exceptionally popular with our students. His research on International Relations theory, international organisations and conflict resolution and his active leadership of British and European scholarly networks afforded our students wonderful insights into how theoretical questions of International Relations played out in the corridors of power.

A major milestone whilst with us at CCCU was the establishment of the European Review of International Studies (ERIS) in 2013. The journal was built on an academic research partnership John established between Sciences Po, Paris and CCCU. This partnership has played a major role in strengthening our Politics research environment at CCCU. The fact that the journal has gone from strength is a testimony to John and to the hard work of his wife and former Managing Editor Antoinette Groom.

Those of us who worked with John at CCCU are incredibly grateful for his knowledge, expertise, guidance and most importantly his friendship. He will be missed.