Dr Jana Wattenberg

Jana is a Lecturer in Security. She is also a Senior Fellow with Women in International Security (WIIS). 

From September 2022 until September 2025, Jana is going to complete her Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellowship (funded by UKRI) at the School of International Service at American University and the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. 

Jana's research focuses on nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament, the role of ideas in world politics, women in the nuclear weapons field and gendered dimensions of nuclear discourses. 

Jana is currently working on two research projects:

Ideas that Stand in the Way of Nuclear Disarmament: This project turns to ideas about nuclear weapons and disarmament to explain why the constant work of the global nuclear disarmament complex has failed to free the world of nuclear weapons. Ideas, such as the idea that nuclear disarmament has to be a long-term goal, commit actors to continue discussing global nuclear zero, while postponing nuclear arms reductions into the distant future. The project traces to evolution of ideas about nuclear weapons and disarmament and shows how these ideas guide actors’ thinking towards pursuing incremental nuclear disarmament efforts. These take place within the confines of a hierarchically structured nuclear order which allows selective legitimate nuclear weapon ownership.

Women and the Bomb: This project analyses the multiple roles that women have played in the nuclear weapons field and studies the political impact of gender dimensions of nuclear discourses. The project was awarded a Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellowship (funded by UKRI) in 2022. Jana will research the roles that women have played in the US nuclear weapons field from September 2022 until September 2025.