Jonathan Luke Austin (born 1987) is a sociologist and

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. Austin is currently a professor at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. He is also Director of the Centre for Advanced Security Theory at the same university. Previously he was Lead Researcher at the Geneva-based Violence Prevention (VIPRE) Initiative, hosted by the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, dev ...

, where he is also a visiting professor. Austin has previously been based at the

, the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

, and the

Orient-Institut Beirut The Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB; ) is one of ten German Humanities Institutes Abroad which belong to the Max Weber Foundation. The OIB was established in 1961 by the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (German Oriental Society) and is part of ...

. Austin is widely known for his work in the fields of

International Political Sociology (security studies) International political sociology (IPS) is an interdisciplinary field and set of approaches at the crossroads of international relations theory and other disciplines such as sociology, geography and anthropology. It is structured around initiatives ...

critical security studies Critical security studies (CSS) is an academic discipline within security studies which draws on critical theory to revise and, at times, reject the narrow focus of mainstream approaches to security. Similarly to the case of critical internation ...

, and

International Relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

. Theoretically, Austin has played a central role in reconsidering the status of critique in

, mainly through his engagements with pragmatist sociologies, science and technology studies, and

postcritique In literary criticism and cultural studies, postcritique is the attempt to find new forms of reading and interpretation that go beyond the methods of critique, critical theory, and ideological criticism. Such methods have been characterized as a ...

. He has also been a key advocate for extending the ‘materialism’ of the practice of

, suggesting social scientific practice must move beyond its present preoccupation with epistemic modes of inquiry. Empirically, much of Austin's work has revolved around exploring the ontologies of political violence. This includes a significant research programme studying the conditions of possibility underlying torture, conducted through both secondary sources and the interviewing of perpetrators. Practically, Austin is known for applying ‘high’ social theory to concrete international problems. This is currently occurring through the application of material-semiotic social theories to the challenge of violence prevention. For this work, Austin was nominated among the ‘faces of peace’ in recognition of his

Peacebuilding Peacebuilding is an activity that aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the cultural and structural conditions that generate deadly or destructive conflict. It revolves around developing constructive personal, group, and ...

activities by the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

and Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. Currently, Austin leads th
Future of Humanitarian Design
research project, based on his previous work in violence prevention.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Jonathan Luke British sociologists British political scientists Academic staff of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1987 births