BISA 2024 prize winners announced
We're delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 BISA awards and prizes. Our annual awards recognise excellence and achievement through research and teaching in the field of International Studies, and are announced at our conference each year.
The winners are:
Distinguished Contribution Prize – Professor Caroline Kennedy-Pipe
Susan Strange Best Book Prize – Marthe Achtnich - Mobility Economies in Europe’s Borderlands: Migrants’ Journeys through Libya and the Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press)
L.H.M. Ling Outstanding First Book Prize – Ida Danewid: Resisting Racial Capitalism: An Antipolitical Theory of Refusal (Cambridge University Press)
Michael Nicholson Thesis Prize – Joint winners: Sam Ritholtz - Civil War and the Politics of Difference: Paramilitary Violence Against LGBT People in Colombia; and Chloe Sydney - Why Would We Go Back?" Refugee Decision-Making with Regards to Return
New Voices In Cultural Relations Prize - Louise Sherry The Politics of Expendability: Decolonial Reflections on the State of Climate Justice at COP27
Best Article in the Review of International Studies (RIS) Prize – Louise Amoore - Machine Learning Political Orders (RIS 2023, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 20-36).
Early Career Excellence in Teaching International Studies Prize – Akinyemi Oyawale
Postgraduate Excellence in Teaching International Prize – Shambhawi Tripathi
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize – Joint winners: Bahar Başer and Vicki Squire (University of Warwick)
Working Group of the Year Prize – Joint winners: Astropolitics Working Group and Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Working Group
Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Working Group Early-Career Researcher Paper Prize - Jamal Nabulsi (University of Queensland)
Read on to find out more about each winner, see some honourable mentions, and what the judges said. At the bottom of the page, you can also find short videos from each winner giving their reactions to finding out they had won.
Distinguished Contribution Prize - Professor Caroline Kennedy-Pipe
The Distinguished Contribution Prize recognises contribution to the promotion of excellence in the discipline of International Studies over a substantial period of time.
As BISA's first female Chair and one of the first women to be a Professor of War Studies in the UK, Professor Kennedy-Pipe embodies the association's commitment to diversity, professional advancement, and engaged scholarship. Her academic leadership, including founding the journal Civil Wars, and mentorship, spanning over 40 years, have positively influenced countless scholars.
Susan Strange Best Book Prize - Marthe Achtnich
The aim of this prize is to honour the work of Susan Strange, and to recognise outstanding current work being conducted in the discipline. This year’s prize was awarded to Marthe Achtnich for the book Mobility Economies in Europe’s Borderlands: Migrants’ Journeys through Libya and the Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press).
The judging panel said:
“The book scored extremely highly on the panel’s judging criteria which included its significance, quality of scholarship, presentation, scope, and originality. The panel were extremely impressed with the book’s contribution to our understanding of migrant journeys, and the new conceptual tools it brings to academic knowledge in a range of sub-fields across our discipline. The panel were struck by the scope of the empirical research underpinning your account, and by the methodological sophistication with which you have addressed such a challenging and difficult topic. I am sure the book will have the significant and enduring impact on the field of international studies it clearly merits.”
The judges also gave an honourable mention to Jennifer Greenburg for the book At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War (Cornell University Press). They commented:
"The panel were impressed with the book’s conceptual and empirical contribution to our understanding of the post-9/11 politics of military power, gender and development. The book offers a wide-ranging, thoughtful, and original addition to several important scholarships across the field of International Relations."
L.H.M. Ling Outstanding First Book Prize - Ida Danewid
The aim of the L.H.M. Ling prize is to honour Lily's work and to recognise outstanding early career research in the discipline. This year’s prize was awarded to Ida Danewid for the book Resisting Racial Capitalism: An Antipolitical Theory of Refusal (Cambridge University Press).
The judging panel said:
“Ida Danewid’s Resisting Racial Capitalism is perhaps one of the most challenging and innovative new contributions to our discipline. Challenging in that it presents a radical alternative to conventional as well as critical perspectives on global justice, and innovative in that it draws on authors and movements that have by and large been excluded and marginalised, particularly in advancing theory in International Relations. Written from a perspective that radically rejects the two formative structures of modernity, namely the state and capitalism, Danewid draws on thinkers such as C.L.R. James and Cedric Robinson to provide a treatise on power and resistance that is unlike other, critical engagements with the subject.”
They also said:
“The book makes a significant contribution to emerging debates relating to the decolonisation of the discipline’s core formative concepts. Importantly, it does so by drawing on authors and movements that are largely ignored in theoretical advances in the discipline. Compared to the other nominated authors, whose focus is largely case based, Danewid most certainly stands out for originality and the wider significance of her contribution, in conceptual, theoretical as well as empirical grounds.”
The judges also gave an honourable mention to Seb Rumsby for the book Development in Spirit: Religious Transformation and Everyday Politics in Vietnam’s Highlands (University of Wisconsin Press).
The judging panel said:
“The author carefully positions himself in the book and reveals his own gendered identity and belief system which is very helpful throughout. The emphasis on the everyday political economy, drawing upon feminist scholarship amongst other things, ensures that the book speaks to a range of audiences across IR and IPE. The gender analysis in chapter five is very interesting – it is undergirded by the author’s feminist ethical and decolonial stance, enabling giving voice to women living in the community and challenging the idea that women who have converted to Christianity cannot be agents of their own destiny. Rather, we get to hear about strong women. This however does not mean that the author disregards the gendered harms and oppressions that are practiced in the community. In short then this is a wonderful book that centres on a community that few probably would have encountered had they not read the book. It is beautifully written and sustained by a large number of interviews.”
Michael Nicholson Thesis Prize – joint winners: Sam Ritholtz and Chloe Sydney
The Michael Nicholson thesis jury agreed that this year’s award should go jointly to Sam Ritholtz for Civil War and the Politics of Difference: Paramilitary Violence Against LGBT People in Colombia; and Chloe Sydney for Why Would We Go Back?" Refugee Decision-Making with Regards to Return.
Of Sam’s dissertation the judges said:
“The dissertation exemplifies methodological rigour through its inductive research design, careful case study analysis, ethical considerations, interdisciplinary approach, and significant theoretical contributions. Each of these aspects underpins the scholarly value of Ritholtz's work.”
“The dissertation demonstrates an exceptional contribution to scholarship. It is truly an exceptional work. It combines a very strong theoretical framework with impressive fieldwork. The jury especially noted they were impressed with how the thesis develops a new theory that provides a crucial understanding of how violence and conflict is used by certain actors to establish a particular anti-LGBT order.”
Of Chloe’s dissertation the judges said:
“This thesis makes an outstanding contribution to knowledge and scholarship by developing a new model of refugee return. In addition to this, the thesis also makes useful and transformative policy recommendations and generates important data that can be used for future studies.”
“The jury especially underscored the strength of the thesis’ multinational scope and generalisability and commend this for being an excellent contribution to scholarship.”
The judges also gave an honourable mention to Alice Baroni for Imperfect Struggles: Jewish-Israeli Activists for Palestinian Rights & the Paradoxes of Solidarity from a Position of Power.
The judging panel said:
“The thesis was an impressive combination of fieldwork and theoretical framework and commented on the relevance of this work beyond its current case focus to other activist networks dominated by those who are privileged in contrast to those who are affected. As such we agreed that this work deserved recognition for its sophisticated exploration of solidarity from privileged positions, coupled with an engaging literary style which made the thesis a joy to read.”
Best Article in the Review of International Studies (RIS) Prize – Louise Amoore
This Prize is awarded annually by the editorial advisory board of our journal Review of International Studies (RIS). It is awarded for the best article published in the previous year's volume of the journal. This year the board chose Louise Amoore’s Machine Learning Political Orders (RIS 2023, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 20-36).
The judges noted:
“This innovative article argues that machine learning is doing much more than re-shaping how politics is conducted: it is working to re-order the political, with various problems re-imagined not as political problems, but as a machine learning problem for an algorithm to resolve. In the process, the author maintains that machine learning is not just disrupting existing ways of doing politics, but establishing new expectations about how politics ought to be done (well), and who is authorised to do politics. As the author explains, ‘it is itself a mode of politics that arranges the orderings of public space, adjudicates what a claimable right could be, discriminates the bodies of those on whom it is enacted’. The theoretical claims of this discipline-shaping paper are outlined in considerable detail, but what is remarkable is how the author illustrates these claims through various examples, such as the Cambridge Analytica case. In doing so, “Machine Learning Political Orders” makes a significant contribution to specialised debates about algorithmic thinking in IR, but also a much broader contribution to debates about the political, which will resonate with people working within IR, and across the various disciplinary divides.
The judges also gave an honourable mention to Rafi Youatt for Interspecies politics and the global rat: Ecology, extermination, experiment, RIS 49(2). They noted:
“This innovative piece, with relevance for several different IR literatures, deals with an uncommon topic - rats - to develop a theoretical discussion on the recent IR debate on interspecies internationality. Complex, well written and engaging, this article contributes to broader IR literature by placing post-colonialism and socioecological interfaces under new light. More specifically, it contributes to the IR discussion on environmental issues by situating the framework of interspecies internationality within the field’s three main recent theoretical developments on the relationship between humans and nonhumans: the Anthropocene approach, geopolitics and planetary frameworks. The author also discusses - in a way that is both uncomfortable and didactic - how the rat can be seen as a metaphor for “violence, exclusion, and the conditions of shared life”.
New Voices In Cultural Relations Prize - Louise Sherry (University of Warwick)
This brand new joint BISA and British Council prize is for a Master’s dissertation which provides new scholarly insight and/or offers a new policy direction that makes an original contribution to international relations.
The judges said:
"Louise’s dissertation explains the disappointments of 'market environmentalism' and exposes the inadequacies of the current approach to climate justice stemming from an unrecognised politics of expendability. Not only does the dissertation tackle a subject of crucial global importance, it also exposes the scandalous contradictions of the present direction of travel. In doing so, it has the clear potential to transform thinking on this topic, even for those who might be sceptical, and, one would hope, policy. It is well written with a clear structure that presents a fresh argument that needs to be heard more widely!"
The judges also awarded Special Commendations to:
-Jessica Russell (University of Bath)
-Htet Lynn Oo (University of Manchester)
-Joe Murphy (Leeds Beckett University)
-Joanna Enu Obeng (University of Westminster)
You can find out more about this prize and the winners in a separate news story.
Early Career Excellence in Teaching International Studies Prize - Akinyemi Oyawale (University of Warwick)
The aim of this annual award is to recognise those early-career academics, or teams of academics, who have contributed to the positive learning experience of students in International Studies.
The judging panel noted:
“Akinyemi Oyawale’s nomination stands out in its clear emphasis on decentring mainstream approaches to the study and teaching of IR, including his work at integrating non-Western perspectives. We are particularly impressed with the clear teaching philosophy he outlined based on principles of inclusivity (Nobody Left Behind), which are not only noteworthy in themselves, but which are supported by detailed student testimonies as well as by two teaching awards he received in 2023. His contributions are further evidenced by the fact that he will be leading a segment at the next PAIS Teaching Away Day. Dr Oyawale provides a highly evidenced submission that clearly demonstrates his reflective and thoughtful approach to teaching.”
Award for Postgraduate Excellence in Teaching International Studies - Shambhawi Tripathi
The aim of this annual award is to recognise postgraduate students who have contributed to the positive learning experience of students in International Studies.
The judges said:
“Shambhawi’s nomination stood out for a few reasons. Firstly, the creativity of her teaching. Instead of the usual discussion about seminar activities and cutting seminars into specific time slots, Shambhawi’s nomination indicates that she really transforms the teaching space into a learning space through fostering a sense of inclusive learning. She does this in a variety of ways that is reflected in her teaching methods and use of diverse pedagogical materials, including objects and poetry. That Shambhawi has inspired students to stay in the programme because she made the subject speak to them is a clear testament to her dedication to her students and to her skills as a teacher.”
Working Group of the Year – Astropolitics Working Group and Colonial Postcolonial Decolonial Working Group
Working groups are at the heart of BISA and directly contribute to the development of International Studies. All conveners are volunteers so we hope this new prize will help to recognise and celebrate their achievements.
The judges said of the Colonial Postcolonial Decolonial Working Group:
Since its inception, CPD has fostered a vibrant scholarly community and brought a new sensibility to BISA that has greatly benefited members and the discipline. CPD’s current conveners have devoted significant effort to expanding the WG and supporting early career researchers (ECRs). They have emphasized creating spaces for diverse voices and decolonial practices, organizing talks, workshops, and the CPD Paper Prize. Their innovations include a blog and active Twitter presence, positively impacting BISA's visibility and the development of the discipline.
The judges said of the Astropolitics Working Group:
One of BISA’s newer working groups, Astropolitics has excelled in promoting research and networking in a field often overlooked in international studies. Their recent event at Space Park in Leicester attracted diverse participants, highlighting the WG's significance beyond the discipline and the academy. They have prioritized ECRs with seminars and publishing sessions. This positive impact is noteworthy and deserving of recognition.
Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Working Group Early-Career Researcher Paper Prize - Jamal Nabulsi (University of Queensland)
The prize is aimed at supporting CPD’s early-career members in the development of peer-reviewed work, while at the same time carving out space in International Studies to engage with the question of empire and coloniality as fundamental to the discipline. The winner is Jamal Nabulsi for Affective Sovereignty: A decolonial politics of emotion in Palestine. The judging panel said:
"Jamal Nabulsi’s article is eloquently written, theoretically complex and ethnographically grounded. It takes up a key theme in CPD’s conceptual repertoire, as to what sovereignty can embody through decolonial and Indigenous lenses. It does so at multiple registers: first, by refusing the fragmented framing of Palestinian lives and lands; second, by anchoring its central arguments in Palestinians’ ongoing and unending feelings of belonging to and longing for Palestine; third by working through how these constellations of feelings constitute what the author calls affective sovereignty; and finally, as the paper delves deeply into Palestinian music, art and culture as expressions of belonging, unity and sovereignty, it comes to the powerful conclusion, that sovereignty is sustained, affirmed and reproduced in part through feeling. In its foundational conversations intersecting the politics of emotion with Indigenous politics, it offers key ways forward for both the more material engagements of decolonial work and for those IR scholars attempting to grapple with the politics of emotion. We were captivated by this ambitious and powerful contribution that centres Palestine and Palestinian artistic production."
There were two honourable mentions for this prize: Alice Engelhard (LSE) for Decolonisation and the displacement of the Chagos Islanders; and Sara Wong (LSE) for Towards an Anticolonial Aesthetic Politics: Surrealist Praxis & Epistemic Refusal. Find more about them in the separate news story.