Marnie Howlett is a Departmental Lecturer in Russian and East European Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) and Oxford’s School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA). She is also an Associate Member at St. Antony’s and Nuffield Colleges.

Marnie’s research lies at the nexus of geopolitics, cartography, borders, and nationalism within the former Soviet Union, particularly Ukraine. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in the country analysing the role of borders in shaping grassroots dynamics. She is currently working on a book monograph exploring the intersection and overlap of imagined and territorial cartographies for contemporary politics. Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, she has been working on several projects related to Ukrainian nation-building at the grassroots, including running public opinion and conjoint experiment surveys in the country. Her main research interests also include the use of digital, visual, and spatial methods for political research.

Marnie holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), as well as a MA in Political Science and BA (High Honours) in International Studies from the University of Saskatchewan.