A year in working groups - 2023/24
Working groups are at the heart of BISA, so each year we bring you a summary of their activities over the previous 12 months. We hope this shows the strength, depth and hard work of each of the working groups. We are extremely grateful to the conveners who are all volunteers.
Africa and International Studies
Members: 163
The AIS Working Group held two events this year. This included a postgraduate work-in-progress workshop as well as a hybrid event titled ‘Thirty years of South African foreign policy and UK relations’, which was held in collaboration with Chatham House. They also held several events at the BISA 2024 annual conference, including six panels and a roundtable titled ‘Egyptian Stories: Narrating Spatial Memories in Evanescent Spaces of Belonging’. Additionally, they secured a panel through BISA for the ISA conference which focused on South Africa-Russia relations and the international criminal court.
Astropolitics
Members: 72
The Astropolitics Working Group held three events this year. This included an AWG workshop at Space Park Leicester. This was the first in-person meeting for the AWG and was very successful in exposing the existence of non-STEM space research to a typically STEM oriented audience. They also held two virtual events - a book publishing workshop by convener Bleddyn Bowen, and the second AWG annual lecture ‘CSIS: Space policy and politics in Latin America: Revisiting the multiple board games'. Alongside these events they held three panels at the BISA 2024 annual conference, and a roundtable titled ‘In the shadow of bipolarity? The Space Age beyond the United States and China’.
Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial
Members: 413
This year was the 10th anniversary for the Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Working Group. They celebrated the anniversary in November with their annual ECR workshop, which was titled 'Naked Empire: new tools/old stories and the colonial inheritance of the rules-based order'. They also held a public roundtable which featured the working group's founding members and past/present conveners. They held eight other events throughout the year. This included a blog launch titled 'Voices from BoisMitidja’, which allowed for unique modes of reflection through conversations, storytelling, diary, and commentary, and a roundtable at the ISA annual convention. They had a total of twenty roundtables and panels at the BISA 2024 annual conference. Finally, the CPD ECR Paper prize, in collaboration with RIS received eleven thoughtful and quality submissions. The winner was Jamal Nabulsi (University of Queensland) for 'Affective Sovereignty: A decolonial politics of emotion in Palestine'.
Contemporary Research on International Political Theory
Members: 231
This year CRIPT held three events. This included a virtual book talk in October, titled 'Becoming International' as well as another in April titled 'The Humanity of Universal Crime'. CRIPT also held a postgraduate masterclass in September titled “Women’s International Thought”. At the BISA 2024 annual conference they held four panels and one roundtable.
Critical Studies on Terrorism
Members: 187
This year the CST Working Group held a very successful roundtable discussion. This was held in collaboration with the British Society for Middle Eastern studies (BRISMES) and was titled ‘Terrorism, counter-terrorism, and the permissibility of violence Purpose of event: Roundtable’. CST also held their Annual conference in September, titled ‘The Future of Critical Terrorism Studies’.
East Europe and Eurasian Security
Members: 122
This year the East Europe and Eurasian Security Working Group held a practitioner workshop on ‘Using OSINT satellite imagery in academic research’. Alongside this they hosted to virtual events, including a seminar on ‘Perspectives from the Global South on Russia's war in Ukraine' to discuss the topic and enhance understanding, and a book talk by Derek Averre discussing Russian Strategy in the Middle East. This was held in collaboration with the social science working group.
Emotions in Politics and International Relations
Members: 194
EPIR held seven events throughout this year. This included a monthly reading group session of the book ‘The Affect Theory Reader 2: Worldings, Tensions, Futures’. The session provided a space for researchers interested in emotions and affect theories to engage with one another and consisted of four sessions in which different speakers, including editors and contributors of the book, discussed their different approaches. Alongside this they held a virtual thesis prize-giving ceremony in which the winners and runner-up gave a presentation on their works. The EPIR Working Group had a good presence at the BISA 2024 conference, holding a total of nine panels.
Ethics and World Politics
Members: 141
The first event of the academic year for the Ethics and World Politics Working Group was a research workshop titled ‘Rethinking Global Ethics in a Changing World’. This was held in collaboration with the Centre for Rights and Anticolonial justice at the University of Sussex. They also held a book launch for the book ‘Struggles for the Human: Violent Legality and the Politics of Rights’ by Lara Coleman. At the BISA 2024 conference they held four panels and one roundtable.
European Security
Members: 142
This year, in January, the European Security Working Group held their annual workshop. This took place in a hybrid fashion at the University of Sheffield, and gave members of the working group and those interested in European security the opportunity to present their work. At the BISA 2024 annual conference they held six panels and two roundtables, as well as their annual general meeting.
Foreign Policy
Members: 282
An impressive eight events were held by the Foreign Policy Working Group this academic year. In September they held their annual general meeting and shortly after held a book launch for the book 'Non-State Actors and Foreign Policy Agency – Insights from Area Studies'. They also focused on the diversity of the speakers of their events and on International Women's Day they hosted an event titled ‘Women in Scientific Institutions and Leadership’. Towards the end of the year, they held their third annual conference. This was hosted by the Gulf Research Centre in Cambridge, which featured four panels and a variety of speakers and discussions. At the BISA 2024 annual conference they held 11 panels discussing topics ranging from ‘Para-diplomacy, diasporas, and foreign policy of non-state actors’ to ‘Post-Brexit UK foreign policy and Global Britain’.
Gendering International Relations
Members: 242
The Gendering International Relations Working Group had a very successful academic year. They held five events, including their annual gendering IR conference as well as a Gender and IR mentoring and networking session co-sponsored with the Gender Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London. This session discussed professional development issues as well as issues related to navigating academia as woman and as a feminist. At the BISA 2024 annual conference they held a total of nine panels and four roundtables.
Global Health
Members: 38
This year the Global Health Working Group held three virtual events. These included a book talk with Dr Lioba Hirsch discussing a new account of the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak and exploring the racial politics of global health. They followed this event with two Snapshots podcast episodes. The first was a discussion on the global politics of health with Associate Professor Nadine Voelkner and the second was a conversation with Dr Anne-Sophie Jung that touched upon the impact that studying global health can have on policy.
Global Nuclear Order
Members: 109
The Global Nuclear Order Working Group held three events this year. The first was an event titled ‘Looking into a crystal ball: Exploring the future direction of the nuclear field’. Luba Zaptsepina, Patricia Shamai and Nicola Leveringhaus have written an article summarising the event which features recordings of two roundtable discussions. Following this they held their annual conference, as well as an online workshop centered around pedagogical approaches to nuclear politics and technology. At the BISA 2024 annual conference the group held seven panels.
International Law and Politics
Members: 169
This year the International Law and Politics Working Group held two main events. The first was a rapid response webinar entitled the ‘ICC in Israel and Palestine: Law, politics, and arrest warrants’. This webinar was uploaded on to YouTube and has garnered an impressive number of views. Following this, ILP held a workshop at the European Workshops in International studies conference entitled ‘Ecocide in international Relations’. At the BISA 2024 annual conference the group held three panels.
International Political Economy
Members: 189
The International Political Economy Working Group held eighteen panels and roundtables at the BISA 2024 annual conference. This included a wide variety of engaging papers, centered around topics ranging from ’Gender, race and capitalism’ to ’IPE and the current world’ and 'Colonialism and the Reproduction of Agrarian Labour’.
International Relations as a Social Science
Members: 229
Over this academic year the IRSS Working Group held two virtual events. The first was on the topic of Russia’s strategy in the Middle East and North Africa and was run in collaboration with the ISMMEA Working Group. During this event Dr David Averre presented his latest book on the subject and delivered a keynote speech. Following this, the IRSS working group’s second virtual event was entitled ‘New directions in IR as a social science: The promise of interpretative approaches to IR’ and featured a keynote speech from Dr Cerwyn Moore. The group held two panels at the BISA 2024 annual conference, entitled ‘Interpreting norms and status in world order and theorising international orders’ and ‘Historical and social scientific perspectives’.
International Studies and Emerging Technologies
Members: 119
The main event held by the ISET Working Group was their annual conference at University College Dublin. It was the second annual conference for the ISET Working Group and provided an opportunity for the Working Group members to explore a wide variety of topics and problem areas in technological research in international relations. At the BISA 2024 annual conference the ISET working group held 5 panels and their annual general meeting.
International Studies of the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia
Members: 195
The ISMMEA Working Group held one event this academic year entitled ‘Youth politics in MENA and beyond: Activism, political participation, and inclusive peacebuilding’. This virtual roundtable discussion focused on the crucial role that the young population can have in peacebuilding efforts, and the responsibility of others to support this. At the BISA 2024 annual conference the ISMMEA Working Group held an impressive number of events, including fourteen panels and one roundtable.
Interpretivism in International Relations
Members: 147
The IIR Working Group held a virtual workshop, in March, that explored the forthcoming publication of the ‘Palgrave Handbook on the Pedagogy of International Relations Theory' (2024). The roundtable brought together editors and chapter contributors to discuss the book’s contribution to the question and practice of pedagogy in the discipline. The IIR Working Group held five panels at the BISA 2024 annual conference. These panels largely centered around discussions of nuclear governance and also touched upon interpretive approaches for researchers in international relations and global politics.
Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Human Rights
Members: 182
The PPHR Working Group kicked off the academic year with a book talk from Dr Kseniya Oksamytna (City, University of London) entitled 'Advocacy and Change in International Organisations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping'. This was then followed by another book talk by Dr Tom Buitelaar (Leiden University) entitled 'Assisting International Justice: Cooperation Between UN Peace Operations and the International Criminal Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo'. Later in the year, PPHR held an online seminar in which chairs Camille Bayet (Centre Thucydide, Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas) and Fred Carver (Strategy for Humanity) discussed ‘Multilateralism and the New Agenda for Peace’. At the BISA 2024 annual conference the PPHR working held 22 events, including five roundtables and 17 panels.
Post-Structural Politics
Members: 188
At the BISA 2024 annual conference the Post-Structural Politics Working Group held seven events. This included two roundtables entitled ‘Charting the Future of PCWP Scholarship beyond the Tübingen School’ and ‘Occultism in International Studies: A Research Agenda’. The PPWG also held five panels that touched upon a wide variety of topics such as ‘Martial Realism and the Problem of War’ and ‘Spatial Logics of Violence in Global Politics’.
South East Europe
Members: 51
This year the SEE Working Group held their second annual virtual workshop entitled ‘Worlding from South East Europe, Remaking International Relations’. The purpose of this workshop was to bring together individuals who seek to rethink international relations in South East Europe. The workshop also aimed to build collaborative networks within, and beyond, the working group. Participants were encouraged to carry on these conversations at the BISA 2024 annual conference. This was reflected in their presence, with the SEE Working Group holding three panels.
US Foreign Policy
Members: 185
This year the US Foreign Policy Working Group held an in-person seminar. The topic of discussion was the ‘Age of Antagonism: US Foreign Policy in an Era of Strategic Rivalry and Great Power Competition’ and was hosted by Queen Mary, University of London. At the BISA 2024 annual conference they held three panels entitled ‘Norms, Legality & Identity in US Foreign Policy’, ‘US Diplomacy, Alliance Politics and National Security Narratives’ and ‘US Foreign Policy and the Indo-Pacific'.
War Studies
Members: 270
This academic year the War Studies Working Group held a virtual seminar in collaboration with the Foreign Policy working group that discussed drones and their implications in domestic and foreign policy. Speakers Caroline Kennedy-Pipe, Aram Nabee Mohammed and James Patton Rogers presented different case studies to illuminate the uses and implications of drones in foreign policy practice. The group had an active presence at the BISA 2024 conference, holding thirteen events - including a keynote by Ed Hall.
Towards the end of the year three new working groups were formed: Critical Military Studies; Security Policy and Practice; and Global Politics and Development. We are excited to work with them and all of the existing groups over the next 12 months.