Inauguration of this year's Kerstin Hesselgren and Olof Palme visiting professorships
Welcome to the inauguration of Victoria Basham for the 2026 Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professor and Roland Bleiker for the 2026 Olof Palme Visiting Professor.
Each year, the Swedish Research Council's Scientific Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences appoints the holder of the Kerstin Hesslegren and Olof Palme Visiting Professorships.
The inaugural lecture is open to the public, but registration is required.
The purpose of the Swedish Research Council's grant for visiting professors is to enable universities the opportunity to develop an field by recruiting an internationally leading professor for a limited period.
Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professor
Victoria Basham is Professor of International Relations at Cardiff University and holder of the Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professor 2026 at the Swedish Defence University. In her research, Victoria Basham analyzes how militaries, states, and societies prepare for war and how these processes are affected by social identities such as race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Read more about Victoria Basham and her research
Olof Palme Visiting Professor
Roland Bleiker, the 2026 holder of the Olof Palme Visiting Professor, is Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland in Australia. He is also the coordinator of the interdisciplinary Visual Politics Research Program. His research is about how narratives, emotions and images affect security policy and crisis management