Dr Luba Zatsepina

Humanities and Social Science

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 aims to apply a similar framework to chemical and biological warfare.

In 2022/23/ Luba will lead on the following modules:

L4: Researching International Relations and Politics
L7: The War/Peace Cycle

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:

‘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

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