Personal Statement
Professor David P. Dolowitz
Professor Dolowitz completed his BA in Politics and Psychology at the University of Puget Sound where he graduated in the top 1% of his class and received numerous awards. He completed his PH.D. at the University of Strathclyde, where he was awarded the Political Studies Association Lord Bryce Prize for the best Comparative and IR Ph.d. Professor Dolowitz joined the Univeristy of Liverpool in 1998 and has had a varied research and publishing career. His primary area of interest is in the the processes involved in policy transfer and learning occurring in the increasingly globalised world. In addition to the issues and processes associated with the movement of ideas and information around the globe, Professor Dolowitz has conducted research into topics as far reaching as the movement of social policies across the globe to the use of low impact development techniques in stormwater management to Rawlsian political philosophy, and even how to use the internet to conduct research. Professor Dolowitz has an active publication record ranging from books and chapters to publications in a large range of top journals across a number of disciplines including; public policy, political science, political ideologies, urban studies, government and politics and technology and education. Much of his work can be found in Google Scholar where he has over 13,000 citations.

Professor Dolowitz has successfully guided over 10 students to successful PH.D completion and invites any student who is interested in potential PH.D. research to contact him if they are interested in any of the following areas.

• All areas of lesson drawing, learning, and policy transfer
• All areas of knowledge updating related involved in public policy
• Areas involving comparative policy analysis - particularly in relation to the development and spread of policies
• Topics associated with public and social policy
• Issues associated with sustainable urban development – particularly the use and politics of SUDS/LID
• The role of idea transfer in the management of borders
• Urban Policymaking in China (particularly water management and urban governance)
• The role of knowledge updating and transfer in UK and global vaccination regimes


If interested in studying with Professor Dolowitz you will find yourself embedded in a vibrant, creative, culturally diverse city and University that provides a wonderful place to work and study. Students will find a Department of Politics that has been moving from strength to strength over the past few years. It offers a range of pathways though the field of politics and international studies. As part of the Departments growth it has developed expansive range of opportunities for students to undergo everything from a Parliamentary placement all the way to dedicated work-study opportunities, overseas study and internships in government and business.

Research Overview
Over the next three years I intend to build on three strands of research relating to my expertise and global leadership in the study of policy transfer and knowledge acquisition. The first strand of this will involve expanding my initial research into the ideological foundations and ideational movement of conditional cash transfer (CCTs) in South and Central America (in collaboration with Cecilia Osorio Gonnet - Universidad Alberto Hurtado; Osmany Porto – Universiade Federal de San Paulo).

The second element of my research track builds on this work but focuses on China where I have been working with colleagues to study the rise and spread of the river chief system (and its morphed form in lake and forest chiefs). This work has been complimented by research into the development of the grid management system as a new element of urban management policy. Overall, this strand of my research is spreading into a more general examination of policy making under Authoritarian regimes and the appropriateness of western policy making models in these systems.

Third, I am working with a team of colleagues to examine ways to combat vaccine hesitancy in low- and middle-income countries and the potential they offer to provide lessons to developed nations. This is initially being pursued through a Wellcome Trust Discovery grant proposal for submission in spring 2026.