Prof Milja Kurki
BA (Hons) University of Hull; MscEcon University of Wales, Aberystwyth; PhD University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Bsc (Hons) Nat Sci Open University

EH Carr Chair

Contact Details

Email: mlk@aber.ac.uk
ORCID: 0000-0003-4365-0436
Office:2.07 International Politics Building
Phone: +44 (0) 1970 8639
Twitter: @Kurki_m
Research Portal Profile (https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/persons/28428034-4568-44f6-97e8-c02cddbfae76)

I'm interested in how we might practice politics differently in the context of the many difficult planetary challenges we are faced with, including climate change. I'm currently working on a project on ‘planetary multispecies politics’ and what this might mean for how, where and with whom we engage politically.

I'm interested in cross-disciplinary work across sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts.

I'm Co-director of the Planetary Challenges and Politics Centre at Aberystwyth University's Department of International Politics. During autumn 2025 I'm also a fellow with the Panel for Planetary Thinking at Justus Liebig University in Giessen.

Module Coordinator

Tutor

Moderator

Lecturer

AB2 International Relations: Perspectives and Debates (IP20120)

Friday 11:00-12:00

My research is focused on theoretical and conceptual study of international politics and I'm is also interested in exploration of the policy implications of conceptual frames.

My PhD research was focused on debates on the meaning of causality in IR scholarship, culminating in Causation in International Relations: Reclaiming Causal Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Between 2008 and 2012, I led a major European Research Council project on the conceptual foundations of democracy promotion practices, a project which led to the book Democratic Futures: Revisioning Democracy Promotion (Routledge, 2013) and which involved extensive policy engagement internationally.

Since 2014 I've been exploring questions around how we might rethink the practice of politics in more expansive, relational, planetary and multispecies ways. My most recent book International Relations in a Relational Universe (Oxford University Press, 2020) argued for a relational cosmological orientation to study and practice of international politics. Currently I'm working on follow-up project on planetary multispecies politics. This involves not only transdisciplinary engagements across sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts but also thinking with non-human actors in different locations and spaces.

Cosmologies, Sciences, Planetary Politics: Reflections on ‘Knowledge’ in New Registers. / Kurki, Milja.
Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics: A Handbook. Oxford University Press, 2026. p. 943-953.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Reflections on Imagination of Future and AI. / Cerkez, Toni; Finnis, James; Kurki, Milja et al.
Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics: A Handbook. Oxford University Press, 2026. p. 981-997.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Slipping and Sliding, in Forum on Relational Voices in IR: Pluriversalizing Relationality to Diversifying Relationalities. / Kurki, Milja.
In: International Studies Review, 22.09.2025.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity. / Dunne, Tim (Editor); Kurki, Milja (Editor); Kusic, Katarina (Editor) et al.
6 ed. Oxford University Press, 2024. 440 p.

Research output: Book/Report › Book

Multiplicity and ‘The International’ as Critique: A Forum. / Rosenberg, Justin; Wæver, Ole; Morozov, Viacheslav et al.
In: Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 28.02.2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

More publications on the Research Portal