Stockholm professorship awarded to International Relations scholar

A School of Law and Politics Professor has been announced as the recipient of a professorship at a prestigious institution in Sweden.

Professor Victoria Basham, who is a lecturer in International Relations, has been awarded the Kerstin Hesslgren visiting professorship at the Swedish Defence University in Stockholm for 2026.

The Swedish Defence University is an internationally renowned university in the areas of defence, crisis management and security. The Kerstin Hesselgren visiting professorship is funded and awarded by the Swedish Research Council, Sweden’s largest governmental research funding body, and is awarded to prominent internationally recognised female researchers in the area of social sciences, humanities, theology or science of law.

Professor Basham plays an active role within the interdisciplinary field of critical military studies. She has worked at the forefront of the field for over 20 years, researching how war and military preparedness shape people's everyday lives and how daily life, in turn, can affect wars and other geopolitical outcomes. Professor Basham is also interested in how gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and social class shape the prioritisation, use and perpetration of military force.

During her time at the Swedish Defence University, Professor Basham will research how NATO's enlargement, including Sweden’s membership, is affecting war preparedness and what it implies for societies. She will also be working closely with colleagues and students throughout Sweden to further develop their strengths in critical military studies

Speaking about her professorship, Professor Basham said, “I am deeply honoured to have been awarded the Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professorship. Hesselgren was the first woman to sit in the Swedish Parliament and a pioneering social reformer. During my time in Sweden I hope to build on her commitments to women’s empowerment and actively working towards peace and protecting people from harm.”