Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa

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About me

Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).

Suwita obtained her doctorate (DPhil in International Relations) from the University of Oxford.

She also holds a Master's degree (Master of Arts in International Relations) from The Australian National University, where she was awarded the Hedley Bull Scholarship.Suwita completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where she obtained the following degrees: Bachelor of Arts (with specialization in Law, Political Science and International Relations); Bachelor of Laws (LLB); and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Relations.

At UWE Bristol, she leads the 'Global Security and Human Rights' research group, which brings together a group of interdisciplinary researchers across the University interested in contemporary issues that lie at the intersection of international peace and security, global justice, global ethics and human rights.

Suwita is also an Associate Member of the 'Research in Public International Law' research group at UWE Bristol.

Suwita is the co-convenor of the British International Studies Association's (BISA) Working Group on International Law and Politics.

She is also the co-convenor of "Thought in Action: Conversations About Cinema", a film club jointly run by the UWE Bristol's Politics/International Relations and Philosophy departments and the Watershed cinema in Bristol, which seeks to promote conversations about contemporary films between activists, philosophers, political scientists and international relations experts.

Area of expertise

Suwita's research interests centre on the politics of international law, with a specific focus on the historical origins of international crimes and the politics of international criminal justice.

Her doctoral research examined why only certain acts in global politics were established as international crimes under international law. Its principal theoretical contribution was the development of the first analytical framework in interdisciplinary international relations/international law scholarship for understanding how and why the process of international criminalization occurs in global politics. Through a focus on archival work on genocide, aggression and piracy, her doctoral thesis also illuminated the specific role that the legal diplomats have upon the historical construction of international crimes.

Her current research focuses on the development of new international crimes. As part of a Vice-Chancellor's Early Career Research Fellowship (2023-2024), she is currently undertaking a research project on ecocide - "The Criminalization of Ecocide: A Novel Response to the Climate Emergency?" – which investigates its prospects of being established as an international crime in global politics.

Publications

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