Susan Strange Best Book Prize

We’re pleased to award the Susan Strange Book Prize for an outstanding book published in any field of International Studies during the course of the 12 months up to 31 December 2025. The aim of the Prize is to honour the work of Susan Strange and to recognise outstanding current work being conducted in the discipline.

Susan was, and remains, one of the most influential figures in British International Studies. She held several key academic posts including the Montague Burton Chair in International Relations at LSE. Susan was a founding member of BISA and our first Treasurer. She was also the first female President of the International Studies Association (ISA) in 1995.

BISA is committed to building a diverse, inclusive and open research environment. Our prizes are no exception and reflect our inclusive environment where diverse talent can thrive regardless of age, disability, gender, race or background. We welcome applications from individuals currently underrepresented within the discipline of International Studies.

Eligibility

  • Books may be nominated for ONE BISA prize only each year. The same book cannot be nominated for both the Susan Strange and L.H.M Ling prizes.
  • Books may be nominated by anyone, including self nominations.
  • Nominators are encouraged to respect the spirit of the prize and nominate only books of the highest quality. Nominations must be made online, accompanied by a short statement of the reason for nomination.
  • A maximum of ONE book can be nominated by the same publisher.
  • We ask you only to nominate books for consideration that will be considered original, make a significant contribution to the field and that can be regarded as innovative and excellent. Please ensure you detail why the book meets these criteria, and don’t just provide a dust cover description of the scope of the book (more information below in the 'Guidance for supporting statements' section).
  • Nominated books must be in the field of international studies.
  • The author(s) need not hold BISA membership.
  • The nominated book must have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2025. Where a book is published later in the year but carries a 2026 publication date, authors may be required to provide proof that the book was published in the calendar year 2025.

Guidance for supporting statements

  • The supporting statement should speak to the original contribution made by the book to the scholarly field of international studies, the significance of this contribution to the scholarly field of international studies, and what makes the book particularly deserving of consideration (e.g. based on extensive fieldwork; new methodological approach; theoretical advancement; new empirical cases, etc.)
  • Third party endorsements should not be included in the statement.
  • Statements should be no longer than 300 words in length.

All nominations must be made online using the online nomination form. Nominations are open from Tuesday 6 January 2026 until Tuesday 3 February at 11.59pm (UK time). Nominations made outside of this period will not be considered.

Pile of books

The judging process

  1. Online nominations are received and reviewed by the prize committee.
  2. Please ensure you make the case for the nomination (why should it be regarded as Excellent, Innovative, High Academic Quality, etc) and please do not just describe the book subject area or provide the dust cover notes (see supporting statement guidance above for further information).
  3. Your nomination must be accompanied by the submission of a digital copy of the manuscript. The only accepted format is a PDF file. Any nomination where a PDF file has not been received will be removed from consideration. Please send this file to Ella.Bullard@bisa.ac.uk
  4. The prize will be judged by BISA trustee Jack Holland, who the Executive Committee have appointed to take responsibility for overseeing this prize. The same trustee will chair the appointed committee.
  5. The prize committee produces a long-list of a maximum of 10 nominated books.
  6. The prize will be awarded at our annual conference. We reserve the right not to make an award in any particular year.

Have a question?

Enquiries about the prize and the process of nomination should be sent to the chair of the prize committee, Professor Jack Holland: j.holland@leeds.ac.uk 

Make a nomination

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion monitoring

After a nomination is submitted, nominators and nominees will be invited to complete a brief Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) monitoring form to help BISA improve the inclusivity and fairness of its prize processes; all responses will remain anonymous and will not impact prize decisions. We kindly encourage you to take a few moments to fill out the form, as your input is invaluable in supporting our commitment to equity and inclusivity.

"Gender justice remains at the heart of our struggles to address global threats and an acknowledgement of this is an important contribution by BISA to the understanding of our worlds. The prize also acknowledges the important of diversity, which is red thread that binds the different chapters of the book, at a time when this concept and the politics surrounding it is under attack. I hope the prize will encourage other scholars to think through the issues of social reproduction labour, diversity and planetary change together, and not in silos.”
Shirin Rai, 2025 winner
Headshot of Shirin Rai

Past recipients

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