Dr Jana Wattenberg

Jana is a Lecturer in Security. She is also the Deputy Director of the David Davies Memorial Institute for International Studies (DDMI) and a Senior Fellow with Women in International Security (WIIS). Jana is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Emerging Voices Network of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC).

From September 2022 until September 2025, Jana is going to complete her UKRI postdoctoral fellowship (Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme for Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellowship) 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 three 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 UKRI postdoctoral fellowship (Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme for Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellowship) in 2022. Jana will research the roles that women have played in the US nuclear weapons field from September 2022 until September 2025. She is currently collecting data on women's representation and experiences of working in the US nuclear weapons field in Washington DC. 

Nuclear Stigmatization (in cooperation with Dr. Jan Ruzicka): This project examines a range of stigmatization practices that have been unfolding in the context of the Humanitarian Initiative (HI) and the movement behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).