Dr Luba Zatsepina
Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Arts Professional and Social Studies
Email: L.Zatsepina@ljmu.ac.uk
Luba joined Liverpool John Moores University as a Lecturer in International Relations & Politics in January 2023. Prior to that, she was a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh teaching on courses related to Global Security, Gender, and Strategic Studies. Previously, Luba held a research post in Proliferation and Nuclear Policy team at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) where she focused on strategic culture and nuclear arms control.
Luba’s research interests, as was her specific PhD project, are broadly situated in the field of Critical Security Studies. Awarded in 2020, her PhD research focused on nuclear weapons policy in the Soviet Union during the Cold War with particular emphasis on discursive and gendered constructions of identity. She is interested in the ways that gender and identity constructions enable or preclude states’ decisions regarding nuclear proliferation, arms control, and disarmament. Luba’s current work explores the nexus of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Critical Security Studies with particular focus on warfare.
Luba is a co-convenor of BISA Global Nuclear Order working group.
In 2023/24 Luba will lead on the following modules:
L5: Debating International Relations Theories
L7: The War/Peace Cycle
L4: Being Politically Engaged
Languages
English
Russian
Degrees
2020, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, PhD in Politics
2013, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, MSc in Global Social Change
Academic appointments
Lecturer in International Relations and Politics, Liverpool John Moores University, 2023 - present
Lecturer in International Relations, University of Edinburgh, 2022 - 2023
Tutor/Senior Tutor in Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh, 2014 - 2022
Conference presentation:
Transforming discourse, driving change: The Soviet Union’s shift to arms control and nuclear stockpile reduction in the 1980s, BISA Annual Conference, Glasgow, Oral presentation. 2023
‘Un-Siloing’ nuclear weapons in an age of pandemic, climate crisis and global injustice: On the need to connect existential threats, BISA Annual Conference, Newcastle, UK, Round-table participant. 2022
'Duelling National Exceptionalisms in the Age of Anxiety: The Country Prepared for any Contingency meets the Shining City upon the Hill', with Andrew Hom, ISA Northeast Annual Conference, Online, Oral presentation. 2021
Implementing Change: A Feminist Discourse Analysis of Nuclear Weapons in the Soviet Union, The Future of Nuclear Disarmament Workshop, Online, Oral presentation. 2021
Russian Strategic Culture: Implications for Arms Control Futures, BISA Global Nuclear Order Working Group Annual Conference, Online, Oral presentation. 2021
The Relevance of Identity Constructions to Understanding Nuclear Policies of States: A Poststructuralist Gender-mindful Approach, BISA Global Nuclear Order Working Group Annual Conference, Online, Oral presentation. 2020
Award:
Gray Scholarship Award for outstanding efforts in teaching. 2019
Research Grants Awarded:
LJMU Early/Mid-Career and Research Developing Staff Grant, The Nexus of Artificial Intelligence and Critical Security Studies: Unveiling Conundrums and Pioneering Trajectories for Future Research, Grant value (£): 5000, Duration of research project: 1 year.