The core activity of the group is its seminar series. Research group seminars offer colleagues the chance to circulate work in preparation and seek comment from the other theorists at the University. The usual format involves a brief presentation by the author on the piece they shared with colleagues followed by questions and discussion. Doctoral students and students on the MA programmes are welcome to attend. Themes are drawn from the ongoing projects in which members are involved.
In recent years members of the group have edited the European Journal of Political Theory, one of the leading academic journals in the field.
Members of the group also regularly organise panels at national and international conferences, as well as organising major workshops and conferences at Birmingham. One such event was a section at the European International Studies Association annual meeting in Giardini Naxos, Sicily, on 'International Political Theory and the Ethics of Violence' which hosted four panels on themes such as just war theory, revolution, pacifist ethics, and the concept of violence. This was chaired by Christopher Finlay.
Conferences organized by the group at Birmingham include one entitled 'Should Political Theory Get Real? Liberalism and the Turn to Realism in Recent Political Theory'. Keynote speakers included William Galston (Brookings Institution, Washington DC), Richard Bellamy (London) and Adam Swift (Oxford). Papers presented at the conference appeared in a special issue of the European Journal of Political Theory (Vol. 9, No. 4, 2010).