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DPIR members and alumni scoop prizes at ISA 2022-23 Awards

A host of DPIR members past and present have been named as some of the winners at the International Studies Association’s (ISA) 2022-23 Awards.

The ISA awards are given to recognise exceptional scholarly contributions to the field of international studies through outstanding papers, books, achievement, and service awards.

Research Associate and DPhil in International Relations Jan Eijking has won the Barbara W. Tuchman Prize for Best Paper in Historical International Relations by a Graduate Student. His paper is based on a DPhil chapter on technical experts at the 1865 International Telegraph and was also awarded the ISA Best Graduate Paper in IR Theory by the Theory Section. Politics alumnus Eric Haney (DPhil International Relations, 2014) received an honourable mention for the same prize.

Jan said: “I feel very honoured to receive this recognition by the ISA’s History and Theory sections, and it’s a real inspiration for continuing my work on expertise in the history of international relations.”

A group of four people in a line in a room holding certificates in front of them
l-r: Politics alumnus Eric Haney (DPhil International Relations, 2014); Professor of International Relations Louise Fawcett; Research Associate and DPhil in International Relations Jan Eijking; and DPhil in Area Studies Ameya Pratap Singh.

Professor of International Relations Patricia Owens has won the Theory Edited Volume, Special Issue, or Symposium Award in the Theory Section jointly with Katharina Rietzler, Kimberly Hutchings & Sarah Dunstan. The award is for their 2022 book Women’s International Thought: Towards a New Canon, which examines how women transformed the practice of international relations. It is the second year in a row Professor Owens has won the prize.

DPIR alumna Dr Nicole De Silva (MPhil and DPhil in International Relations, 2009) won the Best Paper Award in the Human Rights Section with Dr Misha Plagis for their paper ‘NGOs, international courts, and state backlash against human rights accountability: Evidence from NGO mobilization against Tanzania at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.’ The paper explores how nongovernmental organisations leverage international courts to promote human rights in response to state backlash against human rights accountability.

And fellow DPIR alumna Dr Nina Hall (DPhil in International Relations, 2009) has won the Book Award in the ICOMM Section for her book Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era, Think Global, Act Local. In it, Dr Hall explores how digital advocacy organisations have harnessed digitally networked power and can quickly react to the most important contemporary issues, and mobilise large memberships, to put pressure on politicians.

Politics alumnus Dr Michael W Manulak (DPhil International Relations, 2009) was awarded the Chadwick F. Alger Prize in the IO Section for best book on international organisations and multilateralism for his book Change in Global Environmental Politics: Temporal Focal Points and the Reform of International Institutions. The book also received an Honourable Mention (runner up) for the Harold and Margaret Sprout best book award from ISA’s Environmental Studies Section.  In the book, he looks at how we realize change in international institutions, theorizing the role of what he terms ‘Temporal Focal Points’.

And Sheena Chestnut Greitens (MPhil International Relations, 2005) has won the Frank J Klingberg Award for Best Paper Presented by a Faculty Member in the ISA Midwest Section with Heather-Leigh K Ba and Yu Bin Kim. In the paper, they use an original dataset of textual and visual propaganda collected inside North Korea to show that the North Korean regime varies its domestic propaganda messaging in ways that enhance regime survival.

The International Studies Association is one of the oldest interdisciplinary associations dedicated to understanding international, transnational and global affairs.


I feel very honoured to receive this recognition by the ISA’s History and Theory sections, and it’s a real inspiration for continuing my work on expertise in the history of international relations.

Jan Eijking, Research Associate and DPhil in International Relations