Featured events

01 Special events (in chronological order)

 Public lecture by Professor Ilan Pappe: Gaza as an epicentre - the breakdown of the international order – Tuesday 2 June, 6.15-7.45pm, Syndicate 3 and 4, The Brighton Centre

Opening the #BISA2026 conference, this lecture will attempt to provide an explanation why the events in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 unsettled the international order. Professor Pappe is the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter and a senior fellow at the University of Exeter's Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies. He is also the chair of the board of the charity The Nakba Memorial Foundation.

Free registration required in addition to your conference registration.

Postgraduate Network and first-timers meet up - Sponsored by the Postgraduate Network. Tuesday 2 June, 7.30-10pm, Upstairs at The Mesmerist, 1-3 Prince Albert Street, Brighton, BN1 1HE.

Join the Postgraduate Network (PGN) and meet fellow first-timers, postgraduates and ECRs. Our friendly and welcoming PGN committee members will be there to greet you and help make some introductions. Food and drinks will be available to purchase.

War Studies keynote - Waging war, making peace from South Africa to Northern Ireland, the Middle East to Ukraine: an IR perspective – Wednesday 3 June, 1.15-2.45pm,

This keynote roundtable will bring together scholars with considerable experience of researching the war to peace trajectory: Professor Michael Cox, Chair (LSE), Professor Mary Kaldor (LSE), Professor Roger Mac Ginty (Durham University), Dr Aaron Edwards (Sandhurst), Dr Fiona Stephen (Former Director of the Northern Ireland Council on Integrated Education), and Dr Richard Hargy (Queen’s University of Belfast).

UN at 80: opportunities and priorities for the organisation in a fragmenting order – sponsored by the United Nations Association, Wednesday 3 June, 1.15-2.45pm, 

Asian Political and International Studies Association sponsored panel - Society and Security in the Asia-Pacific: Mutual (De)construction and Governance Challenges – Wednesday 3 June, 3-4.30pm,

Shaping a Discipline - The Legacy of Groom, Mayall and Spence in British International Relations – Wednesday 3 June, 3-4.30pm, 

This celebratory roundtable will reflect on the work of Professors John Groom, James Mayall and Jack Spence and their huge contribution to British IR. This is a chance for delegates – especially early-career scholars - to appreciate the impact they made on the development of the discipline in the UK from the 1970s to the present day. Chaired by Professor Nick Wheeler, he will be joined by Cornelia N’Avari, Christopher Brown, Christopher Hill and Barry Buzan.

Keynote: Professor Kimberly Hutchings (Queen Mary University of London) - ‘Violence and the Meaning of Peace’ SPONSORED BY THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY, Wednesday 3 June, 4.45-6.15pm, Syndicate 3 and 4

Kimberly Hutchings is Professor of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. She works in the field of international political theory and ethics, including feminist theory and ethics, the political theory of violence, Global Ethics and the history of women’s international thought.

Social early morning run! Thursday 4 June, 6.50-7.45am, meet Anna Stavrianakis on the south/sea side of the i360 tower

Enjoy the seaside and the sights with an early morning leg-shaker! Informal, friendly jog/run. Meet Anna Stavrianakis on the south/sea side of the i360 tower at 6.50am for a 7am departure eastwards, past the West Pier to give Steve Ovett’s foot a rub and wave to the swimmers at the Sea Lanes. Back to base for 7.45am to allow for 9am panels!

This is a voluntary run/jog at your own risk; please wear appropriate clothing and footwear. We provide a lead and back runner, with a phone in case of emergencies.

Maximizing impact: Communicating research to diverse audiences – Thursday 4 June, 9-10.30am,

Introduction to Book Publishing – Thursday 4 June, 9-10.30am, Marina

This roundtable is intended to provide a valuable service to the BISA community by offering an overview of book publishing, especially for first-time authors. This international group of experienced editors represent both university presses and commercial academic presses. They will both describe and demystify how to get published, what you should expect throughout the process, and what you should do after publication to help make your book a success.

November's midterm elections: report card or death notice for Trump 2.0? Sponsored by The Conversation – Thursday 4 June, 10.45am-12.15pm, 

British Council sponsored panel: Where next for peace? A conversation across theory, policy and practice – Thursday 4 June, 1.15-2.45pm,

Publishing in War and Security Studies: Sponsored by War Studies Working Group – Thursday 4 June, 2-3.30pm, The Walrus (Hideaway Room), 10 Ship St, Brighton BN1 1AD.

Prize giving ceremony – Thursday 4 June, 4.45-6pm, Be the first to know who’s won the 2026 BISA prizes, including the Distinguished Contribution Prize and the Susan Strange Best Book Prize.

Testing the waters: an interactive citizen science workshop about hydro-politics – Thursday 5 June, 6.30-7.30pm, 

Join the Environment and Climate Politics Working Group for an interactive workshop with local group ‘Sea Check’, a citizen science collective who test the sea water quality once a week in the Brighton & Hove area. We invite all conference attendees to join us on a walk down to the beach to engage in a hands-on water quality test, and hear about how these tools can be used to challenge official environmental narratives. The event will be followed by a social, location tbc.

University of St Andrew’s reception – Thursday 4 June, 7-9pm, Skyline Bar

The University of St Andrews School of International Relations is hosting a reception in the beautiful Skyline Bar. Friends and guests of the School will be invited to join representatives from the School for drinks and snacks while enjoying beautiful sea views over Brighton Beach. You will need to register for this event in addition to your conference registration.

Product demonstration by Provalis - Implementing AI-Assisted Text Analysis in WordStat and QDA Miner – Friday 5 June, 9-10.30am,

This workshop will provide an overview of recent generative AI and large language model technologies, with a focus on their possibilities, limitations, and implications for text analysis. The opening section will briefly examine what these models do well, where they remain unreliable, and how choices such as using a web interface, API calls, or software integration can affect transparency, control, and methodological rigor. The workshop will then turn to the practical implementation of AI-assisted text analysis features in WordStat and QDA Miner. Through demonstrations, you will see how generative AI can support tasks such as coding, categorisation, extraction, and interpretation, while also considering the limits of these tools and the importance of human oversight in analytic practice.

Learning and Teaching/Early-Career Small Research Grant café – Friday 5 June, 1.15-2.45pm, 

The challenges of AI in research – Friday 5 June, 1.15-2.45pm, 

02 BISA journal events

• Ask me Anything: IR journal publishing  - Wednesday 3 June, 1.15-2.45pm,

  This AMA is your chance to pick the brains of the editors of six leading IR journals on matters large and small. Where do they stand on making research data open? Is AI going to turn the publishing world on its head? Why do desk rejects seem to be more common these days? Are there too many journals or too few? Whatever happened to the book review? Why did they decide to become an editor, and do they enjoy it? Ask them anything…except why they rejected that paper of yours two years ago!

• AI and the academic research, writing, review, and editing process  – Review of International Studies, Wednesday 3 June, 3-4.30pm,

• Meet the editors – Thursday 4 June, 10.45am-12.15pm,

  Featuring editors from both BISA journals – Review of International Studies and European Journal of International Security – and the editors of International Affairs.

• Colonial, Postcolonial, Decolonial Working Group early-career paper prizes – Thursday 4 June, 1.15-2.45pm, 
• The Slavery-War Nexus: New Understandings of the History and Future of Slavery and War – European Journal of International Security, Friday 5 June, 1.15-2.45pm,

03 University of Brighton sponsored events

Public lecture by Professor Ilan Pappe: Gaza as an epicentre - the breakdown of the international order – Tuesday 2 June, 6.15-7.45pm, Syndicate 3 and 4

Opening the #BISA2026 conference, this lecture will attempt to provide an explanation why the events in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 unsettled the international order. Professor Pappe is the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter and a senior fellow at the University of Exeter's Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies. He is also the chair of the board of the charity The Nakba Memorial Foundation.

Free registration required in addition to your conference registration.

Centring Palestine 1: From Der Judenstaat to the Rubble of Shifa Hospital: Western Academia, Empire, and the Normalisation of Genocide in Palestine: the academic manufacture of consent – Wednesday 3 June, 10.45am-12.15pm,

Dabke dance workshop - Wednesday 3 June, 3-4.30pm, Auditorium 2. Led by Marya and Abdallah Abulawi.

Centring Palestine 2: From Der Judenstaat to the Rubble of Shifa Hospital: Western Academia, Empire, and the Normalisation of Genocide in Palestine: the academic manufacture of consent - Wednesday 3 June, 3-4.30pm,

Legal training for research and training on Palestine with the European Legal Support Centre – Thursday 4 June, 3-4.30pm, 

Activism! Merging with academia with Queers for Palestine and Palestine Youth Movement – Friday 5 June, 1.15-2.45pm, 

04 University of Sussex sponsored events

After (human) rights? What's next – Sponsored by the Centre for Rights, Reparations and Anticolonial Justice, Wednesday 3 June, 1.15-2.45pm,

Capitalism, state violence, and non-aligned humanisms – Sponsored by the Centre For Global Political Economy, Thursday 4 June, 10.45am-12.15pm,

Ideas That Move the Field: Stefan Elbe, Global Health Security, and New Horizons of IR Scholarship on Global Health Politics – sponsored by the Centre for Global Health Policy, Thursday 4 June, 4.45-6.15pm,

Through the Plate Glass: 65 Years of International Theorising at Sussex and 15 Years of the Centre for Advanced International Theory – Sponsored by the Centre for Advanced International Theory, Thursday 4 June, 4.45-6.15pm, 

Public event: Power and politics in the war machine: global social forces, local resistance – Thursday 4 June, 7-8.30pm, One Church Gloucester Place, Brighton BN1 4AA

How, as scholars, activists and members of our varied local communities, can we think and organise together against the global war economy, in pursuit of a more just global system? This public event brings together scholars and activists working on questions of militarism, war and the arms trade to explore the global social forces driving the war machine, and the politics and prospects of local resistance to it.

Although this event is open to all conference delegates you will need to register in advance to attend as space is limited. This roundtable is organised in partnership with the Sussex International Relations Department, Pluto Press, and Lark and Bloom Library.

The British state as a source of global insecurities: critical scholarship and political accountability in a time of crisis – sponsored by the Centre for Global Insecurities Research, Friday 5 June, 1.15-2.45pm, 

05 Exhibition hall

The exhibition hall is located in the main foyer of The Brighton Centre and is open from 9am to 6.15pm on Wednesday 3 June and Thursday 4 June, and 9am to 4.45pm on Friday 5 June.

In addition to a wide range of exhibitors, we have a BISA backdrop where you can take a selfie with friends and colleagues, and tables and chairs to use for meetings and work. On Thursday 4 June we will have a pop-up headshot studio available from 10am-2pm. You can commission a new professional-looking headshot, free of charge, to use on your website, LinkedIn, research profiles, or wherever else you need them. The headshots are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and your images will be sent to you by the BISA team after the conference. Lunch and refreshments will also be served in the same foyer.

Thinking Global, The E-International Relations podcast, will be recording and broadcasting from the exhibition hall at the conference in Brighton for the duration of #BISA2026.

06 Photographic exhibitions

We’re excited to have two photo exhibitions on display at this year’s conference.

A place along the way: stories from the Island of Somos

Samos is a Greek island in the Aegean that, at its closest point, is situated less than two kilometres from the coastline of Türkiye. It is often described as a ‘magical place’, a place of nature, calm, beautiful blue seas and rugged mountains. It is also a place of arrival and of refuge. In recent years it has become known for its role in the arrival of people seeking asylum in Greece and the broader European Union.

This exhibition 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. We explore how their lives have intersected, evolved, and intertwined over weeks, months, years and decades.

The underpinning research supporting this exhibition was partially funded by a BISA Early-Career Small Research Grant, and the audio work by an AHRC Impact Accelerator Award. The work is a collaboration between Gemma Bird (University of Liverpool), Simone Van den Akker and Andrew Foreman. The exhibition is sponsored by the BISA South-East Europe Working Group.

Conversations on conflict

For the past 10 years, charity Never Such Innocence has been inviting young people, aged 9 to 18, from around the world to reflect on the impacts of war and conflict using creative arts. Work on display in the exhibition was entered into the NSI annual international competition, which invited responses on three key questions: What does war mean to me? How does war affect people’s lives? How can we prevent future wars?

07 Working group AGMs, workshops and receptions

• Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Working Group brainstorming meeting, Wednesday 3 June, 12.15 -1.15pm
• Emotions in Politics and International Relations Working Group annual general meeting, Wednesday 3 June, 12.15 -1.15pm
• International Politics of Migration, Refugees and Diaspora Working Group Annual General Meeting, Wednesday 3 June, 12.15 -1.15pm

• Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Human Rights Working Group reception - Thursday 4 June, 7-9pm, 2Bar, The Brighton Centre

  We look forward to welcoming members of the Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Human Rights Group to our networking reception, where we will celebrate our contribution to the 2026 conference. The event is sponsored by the Journal ‘International Peacekeeping’, published under Taylor and Francis Journals. 

• Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Working Group Annual General Meeting, Friday 5 June, 12.15 - 1.15pm
• International Politics of Migration, Refugees and Diaspora Working Group - childhood, youth and IR meeting, Friday 5 June,12.15 - 1.15pm
• International Studies and Emerging Technologies Working Group Annual General Meeting, tbc

08 Food, drink, entertainment and Brighton

We’ll be providing tea and coffee at two refreshment breaks each day - 10.30-11.30am and 2.45-3.45pm - and at lunchtime. This is a good time to meet other delegates and visit the exhibitor hall too – since lunch and refreshments will be located there (main Brighton Centre foyer). Don’t miss our conference drinks reception on Wednesday 3 June in the main auditorium at The Brighton Centre. The reception begins at 6.15pm following the conference keynote by Professor Kimberly Hutchings.

Many of you will be keen to get out and explore Brighton. Our conference team at Sussex University have put together a guide for you, with information on food, drink and live music which you can download below.

Welcome to Brighton, where you will be spoilt for choice for food, drink and entertainment! There are several guides out there – the BRAVO Awards Brighton and the city guide. Here are a few curated suggestions from your friends in the International Relations department at the University of Sussex! Try also the ‘FIRST TABLE' app, which gives up to 50% off at lots of restaurants if you are eating earlier on weekday evenings.

09 PDF programme

Although you can save a copy of the conference programme as a pdf at any time, we've left a handy instantly downloadable version here in case you need it. This pdf was created on 29 April 2026, so please be aware that changes could have been made since then.