Dr Hannah Wright, BA, Oxford; MSc, Bristol; PhD, LSE

Profile

Hannah joined SPIR in October 2022, having previously been a Research Officer at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace, and Security where she edited the Centre’s working paper series and worked on a project analysing the history, present, and possible futures of the UK government Women, Peace, and Security policies.

Hannah’s research has broadly addressed the relationships among gender, race, class, militarism, and coloniality, focusing on how masculinity and femininity shape security institutions and practices. Her ESRC-funded doctoral research was an ethnographically-informed study of organisational cultures in UK government departments responsible for national security policymaking. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observation with civil servants working on Women, Peace and Security, counter-terrorism, and diversity and inclusion, the study examined how racialised and classed constructions of masculinity and femininity are performed and produced in the everyday working lives of security policymakers, and how this shapes policy discussions.

Hannah is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and previously taught on undergraduate courses on Civil and Political Rights and Social Justice and Policy Analysis at King’s College London, as well as the postgraduate course Gender Theories: An Interdisciplinary Perspective at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Before re-joining academia, Hannah worked in various research and policy roles. Most recently, she was an adviser on gender and conflict issues for the international peacebuilding NGO Saferworld, where her work focused on understanding how gender and intersecting axes of power shape conflict dynamics and peacebuilding practice. She was also a member of the management committee for Gender Action for Peace and Security UK and has undertaken consultancy work for a range of peacebuilding organisations, including Conciliation Resources, Peace Direct and PAX.

Research

Research Interests:

My research interests include:

• Anti-militarist, anti-colonial and abolitionist feminisms
• The Women, Peace, and Security agenda and the uptake of feminist ideas by state security institutions
• Counter-terrorism as a gendered, racialised, and classed practice
• UK national security policy and practice

Examples of research funding:

Examples of research funding:

ESRC postdoctoral fellowship award, 2022-2024

ESRC doctoral studentship, 2016-2019

Publications

Academic publications

1. Wright (2022). Critical Ethnography in National Security Institutions: Methodological and Ethical Reflections. PS: Political Science and Politics.
2. Wright (2020). “Masculinities Perspectives”: Advancing a Radical Women, Peace and Security Agenda? International Feminist Journal of Politics, 22 (5), 652–674.
3. Wright (2018). Transforming Masculinities as a Contribution to Conflict Prevention? In: M. Kulkarni & R. Jain (eds), Global Masculinities: Interrogations and Reconstructions. Delhi: Routledge.
4. Wright (2015). Ending Sexual Violence and the War System – or Militarizing Feminism? International Feminist Journal of Politics, 17 (3), 503-7.

Policy publications (selected)

1. Kirby, H. Wright & A. Swaine (2022). The Future of the UK’s Women, Peace and Security Policy. London: LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security.
2. Myrttinen, L. J. Shepherd & H. Wright (2020). Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the OSCE Region. Vienna and London: OSCE and LSE Centre for Women, Peace, and Security.
3. Wright & S. Close (2019). Inclusion in Practice: Examining Gender-Sensitive Conflict Analysis. London: Conciliation Resources.
4. C. Watson, H. Wright, & H. Groenewald (2016). Gender Analysis of Conflict Toolkit. London: Saferworld and Uganda Land Alliance.
5. Wright & P. Welsh (2014). Masculinities, Conflict and Peacebuilding: Perspectives on Men Through a Gender Lens. London: Saferworld.
6. H. Wright (2013). Gender, Peace and Security and the Post-2015 Framework. New York: UN Women.