Executive Committee candidates 2026 announced - vote now!

I am interested in standing for a position as a trustee on the Executive Committee. I have engaged with BISA and supported its activities for over 20 years. I have always been passionate about the Association and believe it provides a critical space for colleagues to connect, collaborate and share ideas. It is also invaluable in supporting the development of early-career colleagues at a time when resources are stretched in many institutions. I am particularly keen to support work on the following agendas:

1. Learning and teaching: exploring ideas that help us create engaging spaces for academics and students
2. Strengthening links between institutions in the UK as well as links with international partners
3. Engaging with initiatives that help us create more inclusive spaces where we can all flourish.

I have found BISA to be an incredible source of support throughout my career and I am keen to contribute more actively to the future of the association, by engaging with colleagues across our sector, highlighting shared concerns, and exploring opportunities to enrich our working environments.

I would like to be a BISA trustee because I value the organisation as a space for critical thought and reflection on the meaning and role of research and teaching in times of global crisis and ongoing state violence. Taking part in BISA activities has provided me with a sense of community that takes seriously the ethical implications of our work as scholars of global politics. At a moment when we are seeing increasing restrictions on academic freedom globally - not only in authoritarian contexts but also within Western democracies - I believe organisations like BISA have a vital role not only in creating spaces for critical discussion, but also in helping to protect those spaces more broadly, including within universities. I strongly welcome the creation of the Academic Freedom lead within BISA and would be keen to support and contribute to this portfolio if elected.

Furthermore, I would prioritise representing the views of the most marginalised members of our community - minoritised colleagues, PhD students, early-career researchers, and those in precarious employment - all of whom are also particularly vulnerable to the suppression of academic freedom. My co-convenors of the Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group and I won the prize for the best BISA working group last year for our work to strengthen our community in these ways and further for our efforts to centre Palestine within the discipline. If elected I will prioritise supporting BISA as a space for critical reflection, ethical integrity and justice.

My first two years on the BISA Exec have been great – I’m pleased to have been able to participate in so many important things and hope to continue to give something back to the discipline.

My first BISA annual conference was in back in 2007. Since, I’ve been involved with a few working groups (e.g. CTS and USFP) and am keen to support an organisation that provides a sense of intellectual home for ‘British IR’. I’m enthusiastic to help defend and promote our discipline and UKHE at a moment when the economic waters are particularly choppy. I’m also keen to help create a more equitable discipline, with research interests that include gender and race.

As a Professor at Leeds, I have a pretty balanced CV, combining leadership experience, teaching awards (including BISA’s!), and a strong research profile. I’m currently Pro-Dean for Research and Innovation (Social Sciences), and have previously been Head of Politics, DoR, Centre Director, and in a range of teaching and pastoral roles. I’m also five years into a six-year term as Editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, which gives me an excellent overview of current research in Politics and International Studies.

I am standing for election as a BISA trustee because I believe in service to the field and in supporting colleagues and students across our discipline. Over the past three years as Director of Postgraduate Research in my School, I have supported doctoral researchers and academic colleagues through policy changes, difficult situations, and the pressures of academic life, always trying to bring fairness, reassurance, and clear judgment. Separately, I have led the development of university research ethics policy on international security-related issues. These roles have shown me the importance of strong professional institutions, sound governance, and practical support at every career stage.

If elected, I would bring a thoughtful and constructive approach to BISA’s work as a trustee, and I would welcome the opportunity to contribute particularly to its work on academic freedom. Teaching and research in our field can attract politicised pressure and complaint. Through policy work, research, and support for colleagues and students, including on the Prevent duty, I have seen how fear and self-censorship can narrow what people feel able to say and do. For me, academic freedom also means recognising how privilege and precarity shape who feels able to speak, dissent, or take risks.

We face multiple overlapping crises in world politics and higher education. BISA already plays a significant role in sustaining scholarly community in this context, supporting colleagues across career stages and defending the breadth and value of international studies. I am seeking election as a BISA trustee to be directly involved in shaping our collective scholarly life.

I bring substantial experience of professional service, academic leadership, and governance, including as a trustee of two charities. I have served on REF Sub-Panel 19, co-edited a generalist IR journal, and held senior roles, including elected Senator, Head of Department, and Associate Head of a Social Science Division. Those roles have taught me the importance of institutional stewardship rooted in care for colleagues.

If elected, I would work to support and build on BISA’s strengths: intellectual breadth, professional generosity, and a commitment to making the discipline more inclusive and supportive across career stages. As a first-generation scholar, the child of immigrants, and an LGBTQ+ academic, I have a strong commitment to EDI. I would relish the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues across the field to help BISA meet the challenges of this moment while sustaining and strengthening the collective life of our discipline.

I'm a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol, where my research focuses on the criminalisation and repression of dissent, the symbolic life of rebellion, and the politics of militarism and state violence. 

BISA has been hugely important to me throughout my career. The conferences and working groups are spaces where I’ve been supported to develop my thinking, learned how to be a generous scholar, and met some of my best friends. I’m standing for the Executive Committee because I want to help BISA continue that good work, and because I think this is a time when the organisation matters more than ever. The economic crisis engulfing UK HE is dire, and the space for critical and politically engaged scholarship is under real threat. Professional associations like BISA have a vital role in defending that space – sustaining networks of solidarity, supporting ECRs navigating a terrible job market, and organising to defend academic freedom. 

I'd bring experience of running committees and working across different institutional contexts, including as a UCU rep, leading a successful Athena SWAN application, and over a decade on the Steering Committee of Campaign Against Arms Trade.

I am a Reader in International Relations at Queen Mary University of London and I am standing for election as a trustee on the BISA Executive Committee because I value the organisation’s work and want to see it grow. At a time of geopolitical instability, it is more important than ever to build a robust professional association that can leverage its collective expertise to shape political debate.

As the first person in my family to attend university, a carer, parent and woman of colour, I understand the barriers to participation and career progression in UKHE. Having served as EDI Co-Chair and DDS lead, a commitment to inclusivity runs through my work. As a trustee, I would advocate for underrepresented groups, addressing structural challenges to ensure the Association fulfils its commitments to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

I would bring experience of organising people, resources and governance structures. As a former Director of Research and Deputy Head of School, I have managed budgets, developed policy and engaged with national discussions on research excellence through the BISA Research Directors Forum. As Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at QMUL, I have supported internationalisation and initiatives for ECRs.