A year in working groups - 2025/26

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: 139

The Africa and International Studies Working Group held six panels at the BISA 2026 annual conference including ‘Peacekeeping and peace building in Africa’ and ‘Pushing the Frontiers: Reshaping Peace and Security Frameworks in Africa’. They also held three events including a ‘Meet the editors’ with Review of International Studies, and a BISA/Chatham House workshop, titled ‘Digitalisation in Africa: Adjusting to a changing global landscape’.

Colonial, Postcolonial, and Decolonial

Members: 373

The main event for the Colonial, Postcolonial, and Decolonial Working Group was their annual early-career researcher (ECR) workshop, which this year focused on ‘Recalibrating our ethical compass: academia in times of crisis’ and was held at Queen Mary University London. Alongside this they ran their annual ECR paper prize with BISA journal Review of International Studies. Their winner this year was Susy Williams from the University of York with the paper ‘The Coloniality of Exploitation in Fast Fashion Manufacturing in the UK’. They also had a runner up – Anand Sreekumar from University of Adelaide — with the paper ‘An Indo-Pacific history from below? Kerala, the Indo-Pacific and the ocean as method’. Both presented their papers at a dedicated roundtable at the BISA 2026 annual conference. The group sponsored 38 roundtables and panels at the conference, and held an in-person organising and brainstorming meeting, as well as their AGM.

Contemporary Research on International Political Theory

Members: 236

Contemporary Research on International Political Theory held three events last academic year: ‘Pacifism and Critical International Political Theory in a Time of Genocide and War’ virtual postgraduate masterclass; ‘The Conjunction of Prefiguration and Utopia - Concepts, Conflicts, Crossovers’; and virtual roundtable ‘Benevolence in International Relations’. They also held 12 panels/roundtables at the BISA 2026 annual conference including ‘Worlds in Motion: On Turning Points, Continuity and Development in International Society’.

Critical Alternatives for World Politics

Members: 143

New working group Critical Alternatives for World Politics had a successful first year. They held five events during the academic year, including ‘Unsettling feelings: colonial archives, decolonial possibilities’, ‘Meet the conveners of the new Critical Alternatives for World Politics Working Group’ and ‘Iran, “Reverse savages, victims, saviours” politics, and the human rights moral maze’. They also held 31 panels/roundtables at BISA 2026 including ‘Childhood as a Technology of Global Governance’, ‘Migration and Borders: Contesting Sovereignty, Protection, and (In)Security’ and ‘Alternative Politics of Social Media and Popular Culture’.

Critical Military Studies

Members: 173

Over this academic year the Critical Military Studies Working Group held three events. The first was a ‘Zoomside chat: military victory beyond the battlefield: outside wartime’ with Mirko Palestrino (Queen Mary University of London), Aggie Hirst (King’s College), Paul Higate (University of Bath), and Jo Tidy (University of Sheffield), The second was their Annual General Meeting and their third was a ‘Zoomside chat: pleasure and depletion in contemporary militarism’ collaborating with the Gendering International Relations Working Group. Speakers included Sarah Bulmer (University of Exeter), Kate Millar (LSE), Shirin Rai (SOAS) and Chris Rossdale (University of Bristol). They held 20 panels at the BISA 2026 annual conference.

Critical Studies on Terrorism

Members: 179

This year The Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group hosted one event, their virtual annual conference. They held six panels and five roundtables at #BISA2026, touching on themes such as ‘Securitisation of Solidarity’, ‘Vulnerability, Care and Control in counterterrorism’ and ‘Contesting Power from below: Grassroot resistance, Civil Society Agency, and the transformation of governance’.

East Europe and Eurasian Security

Members: 122

The East Europe and Eurasian Security Working Group had an active presence at the BISA 2026 conference, holding 11 panels. These included discussions on ‘Beyond post-Soviet transition: the political economy of Central Asia’, ‘Russian Warfare in Ukraine and Beyond: A Global Threat?’ and ‘Identity, norms, security and status: Eurasian and Asia-Pacific dimensions of regional and international order’.

Emotions in Politics and International Relations

Members: 224

Emotions in Politics and International Relations had a busy year, hosting six events. These included a book talk: ‘Affective Bordering: Race, Deservingness and the Emotional Politics of Migration Control’; their EPIR seminar series ‘An Introduction to Jacques Lacan’; and their EPIR annual lecture ‘Masculinity, Micropolitics, and Global (Dis)ordering’. They also held 19 panels and roundtables at the BISA 2026 annual conference including ‘Art, Images and Affects: Rethinking IR through Aesthetic Practices’ and ‘Scarring the Wound: The Politics of Memory and Trauma’.

Environment and Climate Politics

Members: 145

The Environment and Climate Politics Working Group won the working group of the year prize at BISA 2026. They also held five successful and diverse events including ‘Environmental politics in an age of insecurity’, ‘Pathways for environment research: academia, activism, policy’ roundtable, and their earth day annual keynote ‘The parts and the whole: Earthrise and the politics of seeing everything from nowhere’. On top of this they held 25 panels and roundtables at #BISA2026, touching on a variety of important topics such as ‘Gender and resistance in environmental politics’ and ‘The World Politics of Protecting Nature’. Furthermore, they published eight spotlight series blogs, four research blogs and two podcast pages on their section of the BISA website.

Ethics and World Politics

Members: 149

At the BISA 2026 conference, the Ethics and World Politics Working Groups held three events including ‘Ethics and/of Migration: Research and Policy’, ‘Ethics of War and Violence’ and ‘New Directions in Global Ethics Research’. They also held a successful virtual pedagogy workshop - ‘Teaching Ethics in Dark Times’.

European Security

Members: 153

The European Security Working Group had a busy year at BISA 2026, hosting 39 panels/ roundtables and their annual AGM. They also held two virtual events this academic year, including their annual workshop ‘European Security in the Age of Trump and Putin’, welcoming several timely and varied contributions with 15 abstracts submitted.

Foreign Policy 

Members: 274

The Foreign Policy Working Group held an event on ‘Energy Cooperation and Competition’ bringing together researchers to examine how energy issues shaped foreign policy and international relations. They also facilitated 13 roundtables and panels including ‘Populism and Foreign Policy in a Changing International Order, ‘Author Meets Critics: Marina Duque's The Making of International Status’ and ‘Maritime Issues in Foreign Policy’.

Gendering International Relations

Members: 269

The Gendering IR working group hosted three virtual events this year. ‘LGBTQ+ Rights in Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Practice during times of Homophobic Backlash’, ‘Zoomside chat with Julia Welland: Pleasure and Depletion in Contemporary Militarism’ in co-organisation with the Critical Military Studies Working Group, and ‘Zoomside chat with Caitlin Biddolph: Queering Governance and International Law’. They also hosted 19 roundtables/panels at BISA 2026 including ‘Global Queer Activism: Challenges and Opportunities for LGBTQIA+ Social Justice in times of Backlash’, ‘Gendered peace, organising and solidarity networks’ and ‘Spaces of / for resistance, agency and activism in global politics’. Towards the end of the year they started a new spotlight series, showcasing members of the group and their research.

Global Health 

Members: 56

The Global Health Working Group held seven panels and roundtables at the BISA 2026 annual conference including ‘Pandemic governance in historical and contemporary perspective’, ‘Health diplomacy and governance in times of crisis and insecurity’, and ‘The politics of gender, sexuality, and care in global health’. They also published two new episodes of Snapshots podcast. The first episode was with Dr Suzanne Hindmarsh and the second was with Dr Sara Davies.

Global Nuclear Order

Members: 107

This academic year the Global Nuclear Order Working Group held two events. The first was a one-day virtual workshop on ‘Un-siloing pedagogy and research: intersecting harms and risks in international security’. Their second event was a conference on ‘New thinking and new directions in global nuclear politics’. This event sought to bring together contributions that interrogate existing thinking and propose new directions for the field. They also hosted nine events at #BISA2026 including two roundtables entitled ‘Nuclear Imaginaries in the Third Nuclear Age’, and ‘(Re-)Building our Nuclear IQ: Scholars and Practitioners in Conversation’.

Global Politics and Development

Members: 113

The Global Politics and Development Working Group held two events this year. These were ‘Global development cooperation at a crossroads: what ground rules for partnership in a fragmented world?’ and an online event co-organised with EADI: ‘After Yaoundé: What Does WTO MC14 Mean for Development?’. This online event discussed the future of the WTO and its repercussions for global development. They also held seven panels, two roundtables and their annual general meeting at the BISA 2026 annual conference. They continued to promote their podcast series — Global Aid Rethink — which has global listeners, and published three more episodes.

International Law and Politics

Members: 172

The International Law and Politics Working Group held three events this academic year. These included a virtual ideas workshop and introduction to the convener team, where attendees discussed shared research interests, and began planning activities for the year ahead. They also hosted an online roundtable: ‘Trump, US foreign policy, and international law’; and held a social/informal AGM at BISA 2026. They held six panels at the BISA 2026 annual conference including ‘Authority, Legitimacy, and Informality in Contemporary International Organisations’, ‘Norms in Global Politics: Erosion, Decay and Contestation’ and ‘Doing Refugee Law Empirically: Reflexivity from the Field’.

International Political Economy

Members: 215 

International Political Economy had a busy year, with events including their IPEG annual workshop – this year titled ‘International Political Economy in a World on Fire’ at the University of Sussex. Alongside this they hosted a social for IPEG members at the BISA conference, and 24 panels and roundtables. Their panels focused on a wide variety of topics including ‘Assessing the emerging illiberal order for trade’ and ‘The IPE of welfare and public services’.

International Studies and Emerging Technologies

Members: 137

The International Studies and Emerging Technologies Working Group held four events this academic year. The first was a kick-off meeting and talk: ‘What does the von der Leyen II Commission hold for EU digital sovereignty?’ to launch the revitalised group and present to the members. They then held ‘Why do countries publish national security strategies? New insights from AI and global data’ with a presentation by Professor Andrew Neal, and ‘Strategic alignment: Explaining Iran's integration of offensive cyber operations into its military strategy’ with Dr Eugenio Lilli. Their other event was an International Studies and Emerging Technologies symposium: ‘Emerging technologies and global dis/re/order’ co-organised with Newcastle University Law School's Law and Emerging Technologies group. They also held nine panels at #BISA2026.

International Studies of the Mediterranean, Middle East & Asia

Members: 205

The first event of the academic year for the International Studies of the Mediterranean, Middle East & Asia Working Group was an online keynote talk titled ‘Post-Assad Syria and the Gulf States: Reflections on the past year’ with speaker Professor Anoush Ehteshami. In January they held ‘Iran uprising 2026 – from economic collapse to nationwide defiance’ - an online panel to discuss the bloody crackdown on the unrest in Iran. Finally, they held a book talk: ‘UK Foreign Office and China’ in March. At #BISA2026 they held nine panels and roundtables.

Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Human Rights

Members: 231

The Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Human Rights Working Group kicked off the year with their ‘Virtual Seminar: Ad hoc coalitions in international conflict management’ event with speaker Dr. John Karlsrud from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. They then hosted to their virtual workshop: ‘Public engagement in research; and a virtual book talk with Dr. Nina Wilen for ‘A 'security traffic jam' or networking missions in Mali?’. They had an extremely busy year at BISA 2026 hosting 27 panels and roundtables at the BISA 2026 annual conference including ‘The Future of International Military Missions and Peacekeeping in a Post-Unipolar World’ and ‘Contemporary Challenges and Approaches to Peacebuilding’. They also held their annual AGM on the 14 July to announce the addition of their fourth convener, Dr. Daeun Jung, to the team.

Security Policy and Practice

Members: 174 

The Security Policy and Practice Working Group held five popular events including their AGM, ‘Efforts to end the Israel-Palestine conflict’, ‘Rethinking security in the occupied territories of Ukraine’ in Durham, ‘UK public opinion on security and military spending’ and ‘UK National Security Strategy: progress, setbacks and priorities’. They held 17 panels and roundtables at #BISA2026, including ‘Security cooperation and alliances in uncertain times’, ‘Cultural infrastructures of security’, ‘Securitisation, security logics, and exceptional politics’ and more.

South East Europe

Members: 49

South East Europe Working Group hosted three panels and one exhibition at the BISA annual conference. The exhibition was titled ‘A place along the way: stories from the Island of Somos’ and explores stories from the island through photographs collected between 2018 and 2025, and interviews with people whose lives have become a part of the story of the island. The first of their events was an explorative workshop – ‘Worlding from South East Europe, remaking international relations’ — which brought together contributions that seek to rethink International Relations in and from the SEE broadly understood, while continuing to build collaborative networks within and beyond the working group and the UK. They also held an event on ‘Imagining the future of research on South East Europe’ in collaboration with the London School of Economics and King's College London.

US Foreign Policy

Members: 188

The US Foreign Policy Working Group hosted two panels/roundtables at the BISA 2026 annual conference.