News

Janina Dill has been named one of 30 promising early-career researchers to receive a Philip Leverhulme Prize for 2021 from the Leverhulme Trust.

Janina’s work focuses on the role of law and morality in international relations, especially in war. She plans to use the £100,000 prize money to continue her research into the moral psychology of war. Her research will investigate how moral principles influence decision-making by soldiers in war, and how they shape the attitudes of civilians affected by conflict.

On receiving the award, Janina told the Department of Politics and International Relations:

“I am honoured and thrilled to receive this recognition and the means to pursue my research agenda on how moral principles can constrain conduct in war.

We need a better understanding of how human beings make decisions in the uniquely challenging context of armed conflict, and to be able to articulate rules that effectively restrain their conduct. To achieve this, I hope to create an interdisciplinary research programme that integrates insights and methods of moral psychology, legal theory, analytical just war theory, and political science.”

The Philip Leverhulme Prizes are awarded annually to researchers across many different subjects, from the Arts to Physics. All the recipients have been doing work with international impact, and have an exceptionally promising future research career.