Dr Victoria Hudson is a Lecturer in Defence Studies Education in the Department of Defence Studies, based at the JSCSC, Shrivenham. Previously, she completed a British Academy Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in the Department of War Studies, researching for a project entitled ‘Russia’s Renewal of Cultural Influence and Attraction Abroad: A Comparative Study of Audience Receptivity to Russian Soft Power in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Estonia’.

The study builds upon her doctoral research at University of Birmingham, where she successfully completed a thesis on the civilisational aspects on Russian soft power in contemporary Ukraine. In addition to engagement with the relevant bodies of IR and critical security theory, the thesis also demanded a significant tranche of fieldwork to be completed in-country, which entailed conducting surveys and focus groups across four cities of Ukraine, in addition to expert interviews in Moscow. During this time, Victoria also enjoyed a fruitful visit to the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, within the framework of the ESRC’s Overseas Institutional Visit initiative.

Dr Hudson was a co-organiser of the Artists and Academics for Social Change project. This competition brought together political cartoonists and researchers to increase the impact of scholarly work among wider audiences by sharing findings as art. The works created formed part of King’s College London’s contribution to the ESRC Festival of Social Science in autumn 2024.

Please see here for full details, the online gallery and details of the winning academics and artists involved: fass.open.ac.uk/research/projects/ddr/creative-engagement/academics-artists

Dr Hudson is a co-convener of the BISA East Europe and Eurasian Security Group (2022-present) and Information Officer for BASEES (British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies) (2023-present).

Qualifications

• PhD, Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), University of Birmingham (2014)
• MA Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham (2008)
• MSc Security Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth (2003)
• BSc German and European Studies, Aston University. Birmingham (2002)

Research interests

• Ideology, nationalism, identity
• Russia, Ukraine, Europe
• Soft power and public diplomacy
• Communication and media

Teaching

Victoria contributes to teaching Defence Studies Education with the Department of Defence Studies, with a particular focus on Russian foreign and security policy and strategic culture. Additionally, she has offered guest lectures on modules taught within the Department of War Studies, including ‘Forced Labour & the Authoritarian State: the Soviet Gulag and KZ of Nazi Germany’ and lectures on Russia for ‘The Long View of International Relations’.

Publications

Research articles

• (2022) The impact of Russian soft power in Kazakhstan: creating an enabling environment for cooperation between Nur-Sultan and Moscow, Journal of Political Power, 15:3, 469-494, DOI: 10.1080/2158379X.2022.2127280
• (2018) 'The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a Potential ‘Tool’ of Russian Soft Power in the Wake of Ukraine’s 2013 Euromaidan', Europe-Asia Studies, 70:9, 1355-1380, DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2018.1536780 
• (2015): ‘Forced to Friendship’? Russian (Mis-)Understandings of Soft Power and the Implications for Audience Attraction in Ukraine, Politics, Special Issue: The Soft Power of Hard States, edited by Michael Barr and Valentina Feklyunina, Volume 35, Issue 3-4, pages 330–346, November.

Edited book

• (2022): Victoria Hudson & Lucian Leustean (eds.) ‘Religion and Forced Displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia’
  University of Amsterdam Press. DOI: 10.5117/9789463727556

Book chapters

• (2024) Locating the role of neo-Paganism in far-right groups on the Russian socio-political landscape, in: Aitamurto, K., Downing R. (eds) Contemporary Germanic and Slavic Paganisms - Security Risks and Solutions, Bloomsbury.
• (2022) The impact of Russian soft power in Kazakhstan: creating an enabling environment for cooperation between Nur-Sultan and Moscow, Journal of Political Power, 15:3, 469-494, DOI: 10.1080/2158379X.2022.2127280 (open access)
• (2022) ‘The Response of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan to the Emigration of Ethnic Russians from Independent Kazakhstan’ in Victoria Hudson and Lucian Leustean (eds.): Religion and Forced Displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Amsterdam University Press.
• (2019) 'The Georgian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate: "Tools" of Russian Soft Power?' in Andrey Makarychev and Thomas Kruessmann (eds.): Europe in the Caucasus, Caucasus in Europe, ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart, pp. 171-198.
• (2009): ‘Sovereign Democracy as a Discourse of Russian Identity’ in Philipp Casula and Jeronim Perovic (eds.): Identities, Discourses and Politics: The Foundations of Russia's Stability, ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart.

Engagement writing

• (2017): 'Russia's soft power in the post-Soviet space' in Natasha Kuhrt and Valentina Feklyunina (eds.): Assessing Russia's power: A Report for the House of Lords . King's College London and Newcastle University.
• (2015): ‘The Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill’ OpenDemocracy / CEELBAS Frontlines II: Religion, Ethnicity and Culture, 31st March https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/victoria-hudson/russian-orthodox-church-under-patriarch-kirill
• (2014): ‘Despite the Rumble of Russian Tanks the Main Weapon in Ukraine is Information’, The Conversation, 18th March. Available at: https://theconversation.com/despite-the-rumble-of-russian-tanks-the-main-weapon-in-ukraine-is-information-24437

Grants and Honours [selected]

2016-2024 

• British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship at King’s College London

2014

• Marie Curie FP7 International Staff Exchange – Institute of Europe (RAS) Moscow   
• Recipient of ‘ASTONishing Academic’ award at Aston University for teaching quality
• Grant from university’s School Research Fund to attend IPSA World Congress (£1,634.35). 

2013     

• CEELBAS grant for international research visit for project with HSE in Moscow (£1,356)         

2011

• ESRC grants for fieldwork and language training in Russia and Ukraine (£3560+£2190)
• ESRC-funded research visit to Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki (£3,160) 

2009            

• CEELBAS / ESRC +3 Studentship for PhD studies (£50,000)

2002             

• Studentship for Master’s Degree from the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth (£4,000)
• German Embassy Prize for the best graduation dissertation in German at Aston University
• European Studies final year departmental prize from Aston University

2000           

• DAAD scholarship for a German language course in Germany (€1,000)
• Scholarship for Liberal Arts summer university at ECLA in Berlin (€3,000)