Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Katharine A. M. Wright

Senior Lecturer in International Politics

Background

Dr Katharine A. M. Wright is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University. She has extensive experience of engaging with policy making and civil society communities globally to inform evidence based decision making. 

Her primary expertise concerns:

  • NATO
  • Women, Peace and Security
  • Digital diplomacy
  • Feminist Security Studies
  • Strategic narratives

Her monograph NATO, Gender and the Military: Women Organising from Within (co-authored with M Hurley and JI Gil-Ruiz) received an Honourable Mention in the 2020 BISA Susan Strange Book Prize. In addition, her research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals including: International Affairs, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations and Review of International Studies. She has also contributed to other outlets including the LSE Impact Blog, Open Democracy and E-International Relations.

At Newcastle, Dr Wright is a co-convener of the Military, War and Security Research Group and leads the Gender Politics Research Group.

Media and external engagement

Dr Wright's has experience as a media commentator and has been interviewed by The New York Times (USA), LBC, BBC Wales, BBC Newcastle, Al Jazeera English (USA), Lithuanian National Radio, Radio Free Europe (Czech Republic), ABC News (Australia) and CTV News (Canada), she has been quoted in Al Jazeera, Klassekampen (Norway) and Global Magazine (Sweden). Her research has informed workshops, training and briefings for various NATO bodies, governments and non-governmental organisations. She has also co-authored a guide to Gender and Inclusivity in Peace and Security with the Quaker Council for European Affairs. 

Externally, Dr Wright is a member of the Northumbrian Universities Military Education Committee (2018-24) and the Academic Freedom Committee of the International Studies Association (ISA) (2022-24).

She tweets @KAMWright

Professional Memberships

International Studies Association (ISA)

British International Studies Association (BISA)

Google scholar: Click here.

Orcid ID: 0000-0003-0911-5122

Pronouns: She/Her


 

Research

Dr Wright current research focuses on gender and security at NATO, including the alliance's engagement with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. She is broadly interested in how militarised understandings of WPS influence its transformative potential; and how NATO's engagement with WPS is projected through strategic narratives and received in popular culture.

In addition, she is working on questions surrounding the visual projection of security, including through celebrity (with Annika Bergman Rosamond). Along with a project examining the impact of Brexit on women in Northern Ireland funded by the Equalities Commission Northern Ireland (with Ruth McAreavey). Both build on her concern with the work Women, Peace and Security does in different spaces.

She is the author of NATO, Gender and the Military: Women organising from within (with Matthew Hurley and Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz). The mongraph is published by Routledge and was officially launched at NATO Headquarters in June 2019. It received an Honourable Mention in the 2020 BISA Susan Strange Book Prize, with the judges commenting:

“This is a highly original book based on detailed archival research and extensive interviews, thanks to unprecedented insider access to NATO. The book’s originality lies in the detailed historical account of gender in NATO, drawing on critical feminist theory and methods”

Drawing on recently declassified NATO documents, the book argues that NATO has always been concerned with gender issues. It draws attention to the work of NATO women and 'gendermen' who have organised within NATO to advocate on women's rights and gender issues and provides examples of best practice. The authors make the case for feminist theorising of NATO, arguing that NATO's engagement with Women, Peace and Security cannot be understood without an understanding of how NATO functions as an institution of international hegemonic masculinity.

Her recent article (with Annika Bergman Rosamond) was included in the editors' picks of the best articles published in Review of International Studies in 2020-2021. It examines the significance of Angelina Jolie's high-profile visit to NATO in 2018 for the alliance's strategic narratives, their reception in popular and celebrity culture and the implications for the global Women, Peace and Security agenda. You can watch a short video discussion of its significance on the British International Studies Association's website. 

Previously, Dr Wright was Principal Investigator on an ESRC funded project in collaboration with the Quaker Council for European Affairs on Gender and Inclusivity in Peace and Security shortlisted for a Newcastle University Engagement Award (Engaging Globally). The best practice guide and accompanying short films are available here: www.qcea.org/gender. You can watch the project launch and panel discussion supported by the Irish Embassy to Belgium on YouTube. 

Selected research funding:

2022-2023: Equalities Commission Northern Ireland (Principle Investigator)

2022-2023: Faculty Research Fund, Newcastle University (Principle Investigator)

2021-2022: Returner Support Programme, Newcastle University (Principle Investigator)

2020-2021: The Worldwide Universities Network - Research Development Fund (Co-Investigator)

2019-2020: Faculty Research Fund, Newcastle University (Principle Investigator)

2019-2020: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account (PI)

2018-2022: UACES 'Gendering European Studies' Research Network (Principle Investigator)

2018-2019: British International Studies Association Early Career Small Research Grant (PI)

2017-2018: Faculty Bid-Preparation Fund, Newcastle University (Principle Investigator)

2014: Universities Global Partnership Network (UGPN) Mobility Award (Principle Investigator)

Awards:

2021: Newcastle University Engagement Award (Engaging Globally) [Shortlisted]

2020: BISA Susan Strange Book Prize [Honourable Mention]

2015: Vice-Chancellor's Award for Postgraduate Research, University of Surrey [Finalist]

2015: Faculty Postgraduate Researcher of the Year, University of Surrey [Awarded]

PhD supervision

I am interested in supervising students working on gender, peace and security, in particular focusing on NATO, gender and security, feminist security studies and celebrity.

If you are interested in supervision by Katharine A. M. Wright, then you can find more information about the PhD programme at Newcastle here.

 

 

Teaching

Dr Katharine A. M. Wright is passionate about learning and teaching. She has taught on a broad range of Politics and International Relations modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate level across three different institutions. Her approach to teaching is grounded in the idea that students should be actively involved in their own learning. She draws extensively on the problem based approach, for example simulations, to enable students to connect theoretical concepts with empirical reality. She has reflected on the value of her teaching philosophy in a piece for Active Learning in Political Science. 

She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has a PgCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCAP) with distinction.

For 2022/23 she will be teaching (and is on research leave in Spring 2023):

  • POL2110 Security Studies (Module Leader)

Dr Wright is an External Examiner at the London School of Economics and Politics Science: BSc (Hons) International Relations and Leeds Beckett University: BA (Hons) International Relations, MA International Relations, MA Peace and Development, MA International Human Rights Practice.

PhD Viva examinations: Dr Wright has acted as an internal examiner at Newcastle, and has externally examined PhDs at Coventry University (2021) and Monash University (2022).


      Publications