Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams

Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams

Executive
Interim Provost and Vice-Principal

Contact details

Email
n.vaughan-williams@bham.ac.uk
Caroline Mitchell-Wise, Senior Executive Assistant
c.e.mitchell-wise@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams FAcSS is interim Provost and Vice-Principal at the University of Birmingham. In April 2024, Nick joined the University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Social Sciences. A Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Nick is Chair of the Academy's Leadership Forum and sits on the Academy's Council as a Trustee.

Previously, Nick was Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2021-24) and Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies (2015-18, 2019-21) at the University of Warwick. He was Discipline Lead for Warwick's Round 3 £1.25M ESRC Impact Accelerator Account (IAA) (2023-24) and PI for the Round 2 £1.4M ESRC IAA (2022-3).

Qualifications

  • PhD in International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
  • MA in International Relations, University of Warwick
  • BA (Hons) in Modern History, University of Oxford

Biography

Before joining the University of Birmingham, Professor Vaughan-Williams was at the University of Warwick for 14 years, latterly as Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2021-24) and Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies (2015-18 and 2019-21). As Professor of International Security he was Director of the MA in International Relations and contributed to the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in International Relations and Security. He has supervised/examined more than 30 PhD students and acted as mentor for multiple post-doctoral researchers funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Earlier in his career, he held lectureships in International Relations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Exeter. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and holds degrees in Modern History and International Relations from the University of Oxford, the University of Warwick (MA), and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (PhD).

Research

Externally-funded research programmes as PI/Co-I

(2023-28) Economic and Social Research Council, Impact Accelerator Account, Round 3: Warwick (ES/X004635/1). Discipline Lead/Co-I from 2023-24.

(2019-23) Economic and Social Research Council, Impact Accelerator Account, Round 2: Warwick (ES/T502054/1). PI from 2021-23.

(2016-19) The Leverhulme Trust, 'Everyday Narratives of European Border Security and Insecurity' (2015 Philip Leverhulme Prize in Politics and International Relations, PLP-2015-081) (PI).

(2015-17) Economic and Social Research Council, 'Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat: Mapping and Documenting Migratory Journeys and Experiences' (ES/N013646/1) (Co-I), with Vicki Squire (PI), Dallal Stevens, Angeliki Dimitriadi, and Maria Pisani.

(2013-15) Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Dstl, 'Science and Security: Research Impact and Co-Production of Knowledge' (ES/K011367/1) (Co-I), with Jon Coaffee (PI), Stuart Croft, George Christou, and Oz Hassan.

(2012-13) Economic and Social Research Council, 'Public Perceptions of Threat in Britain: Security in an Age of Austerity' (ES/J004596/1) (Co-I), with Daniel Stevens (PI).

(2011) British Academy-National Science Foundation Taiwan, 'European-East Asian Critical Border Studies' (JP100035) (PI), with Joyce C. H. Liu.

(2007-8) British Academy, 'Lines in the Sand? Non-Territorial Bordering Practices in Global Politics' (SG-50847) (PI), with Noel Parker.

(2003-6) Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, 'Border Studies Research Studentship', Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. 

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Squire, V, Perkowski, N, Stevens, D & Vaughan-Williams, N 2021, Reclaiming migration: Voices from Europe's 'migrant crisis'. Manchester University Press. <https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526144836/>

Vaughan-Williams, N 2021, Vernacular border security: Citizens’ narratives of europe’s ‘migration crisis’. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198855538.001.0001

Vaughan-Williams, N 2017, Europe's Border Crisis: Biopolitical Security and Beyond. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Article

Vaughan-Williams, N 2025, 'Ignorance, (in)security, and Europe's 'migration crisis': Vernacular (non)knowledge among citizens', Security Dialogue. https://doi.org/10.1177/09670106251329914

Zehfuss, M & Vaughan-Williams, N 2024, 'From Security-Space to Time-Race: Reimagining borders and migration in global politics', International Political Sociology, vol. 18, no. 3, olae019. https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae019

Stevens, D, Bulmer, S, Banducci, S & Vaughan-Williams, N 2021, 'Male warriors and worried women? Understanding gender and perceptions of security threats', European Journal of International Security , vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 44-65. https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2020.14

Vaughan-Williams, N & Pisani, M 2020, 'Migrating borders, bordering lives: everyday geographies of ontological security and insecurity in Malta', Social and Cultural Geography, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 651-673. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2018.1497193

Löfflmann, G & Vaughan-Williams, N 2018, 'Vernacular imaginaries of european border security among citizens: From walls to information management', European Journal of International Security , vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 382-400. https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2018.7

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Tyerman, T & Vaughan-Williams, N 2025, ‘Crisis’ in the channel? Practices of securitization and epistemic borderwork in the British/European borderlands. in J Scott & T Wilson (eds), Routledge Handbook of European Borderlands. Routledge International Handbooks, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 25-40.

Vaughan-Williams, N 2025, Political imaginaries of border security. in T Wilson (ed.), Border Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Multidisciplinary Movements in Research, Edward Elgar.

Vaughan-Williams, N 2020, Re-Thinking Borders, Sovereignty, and Law: Carl Schmitt, Giorgio Agamben and the "Nomos" of Contemporary Political Life'. in Border, Sovereignty, Law. National Chiao Tung University Press.

Other contribution

Jarvis, L, Lister, M, Den Outer, B, Stevens, D & Vaughan-Williams, N 2024, Context and questions around the UK's new Protect Duty.. <https://www.e-ir.info/author/jarvis-et-al/>

Vaughan-Williams, N & Stevens, DJ 2020, Was the UK public prepared for a pandemic? Fear and awareness before Covid-19. London School of Economics and Political Science. <https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/public-fear-and-awareness-before-covid-19/>

Vaughan-Williams, N & Lofflmann, G 2017, European citizens want information on migration - not higher walls. The Conversation (Online). <https://theconversation.com/european-citizens-want-information-on-migration-not-higher-walls-81129>

Other report

Vaughan-Williams, N, Squire, V, Dimitriadi, A, Perkowski, N & Stevens, DJ 2017, Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat: Mapping and documenting migratory journeys and experiences - final project report. <https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/projects/crossingthemed/ctm_final_report_4may2017.pdf>

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