
Professor Rachel Kerr
Professor of War and Society
Research interests
- Conflict
- History
- International relations
- Law
- Security
Biography
Professor Rachel Kerr is a contemporary historian working on transitional and post-conflict justice and memory and international law and war. She co-convenes the War Crimes Research Group at King’s. She also co-convenes the SSPP Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network with Dr Jelke Boesten (Development Studies) and Professor Cathy McIlwaine (Geography).
Rachel joined King’s in 2003 as a Lecturer to develop the now long-standing War Studies Online programmes, having previously worked in academic publishing for Polity Press. She holds a BA in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds and an MA and PhD in War Studies from King’s College London.
In 2009-10, she was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, and from 2011-13, a Visiting Research Associate at the Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada.
She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Historical Society.
Research
- International law, politics and justice
- War crimes
- Transitional/post-conflict justice
- Art and reconciliation
Rachel’s research focuses on war crimes, post-conflict justice and reconciliation and international law, politics and justice.
Together with James Gow, she leads a programme of research investigation creative and arts-based approaches to peacebuilding and reconciliation: Art and Reconciliation: Conflict, Culture and Community
Publications
- ‘The ‘Digital Turn’ in Transitional Justice Research: Evaluating Image and Text as Data in the Western Balkans’ Kostovicova, D., Kerr, R., Fairey, T., Redwood, H., Sokolic, I. & Subotic, J., 11 Apr 2022, In: Comparative Southeast European Studies. 70, 1, p. 24-46 22 p
- ‘Genocide and the Limits of Transitional Justice’ Kerr, R. C., 2022, Genocide: Key Themes. Bloxham, D. & Moses, D. (eds.). Oxford Univerity Press; Oxford
- ‘The International Criminal Court, preliminary examinations, and the Security Council: Kill or cure?’ Kuhrt, N. & Kerr, R., 1 Oct 2021, In: Journal of Global Faultlines. 8, 2, p. 172-185 14 p.
- Reconciliation After War: Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective Kerr, R. C. (ed.), Redwood, H. A. (ed.) & Gow, A. J. W. (ed.), 2021, , Routledge. (Contemporary Security Studies)
- ‘Fabricating Reconciliation in Canada’ Kerr, R. C., 1 Jan 2021, Gender, Transitional Justice and Memorial Arts : Global Perspectives on Commemoration and Mobilization. Boesten, J. & Scanlon, H. (eds.). Routledge, p. 155-171 17 p.
- ‘What Works? Creative approaches to transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina’ Fairey, T. & Kerr, R., Mar 2020, In: International Journal Of Transitional Justice. 14, 1, p. 142–164 23 p.
- ‘Art, Aesthetics, Justice, and Reconciliation: What can art do?’ Kerr, R., 2020, In: AJIL Unbound. 114, p. 123-127 5 p.
- New Bearings in Post-Conflict Evaluation: A Principle-Based Approach Fairey, T., Kerr, R., Petrovic, J. & Gow, J., 11 Dec 2020, London: King's College London. 37 p.
- Art and Exclusion: Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network Exhibition Catalogue Behzadi, N. E., Boesten, J., Kerr, R., McIlwaine, C., de Orellana, P., Peake, J. & Redwood, H., 9 Jun 2019, 32 p.
- Routledge Handbook of War, Law and Technology Gow, J. (ed.), Dijxhoorn, E. (ed.), Kerr, R. C. (ed.) & Verdirame, G. (ed.), 2019, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 448 p.
- ‘The UK in Iraq and the ICC: Judicial Intervention, Positive Complementarity and the Politics of International Criminal Justice’ Kerr, R., 31 Aug 2018, Quality Control in Preliminary Examinations: Reviewing Impact, Policies and Practices. Bergsmo, M. & Stahn, C. (eds.). Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, (FICHL Publication Series; vol. 28).
- ‘Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Contexts: Opportunities and Challenges’ Kerr, R., 12 May 2017, Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies. Duthie, R. & Seils, P. (eds.). New York: International Center for Transitional Justice, p. 116-139 24 p.
- The 'Art' of Reconciliation Kerr, R. C., 9 May 2017, FICHL Policy Brief Series, 78.
- ‘Tyrannies of Peace and Justice? Liberal Peacebuilding and the Politics and Pragmatics of Transitional Justice’ Kerr, R. C., Mar 2017, In: International Journal of Transitional Justice. 10, 3, p. 176-185 10 p.
Teaching
- 7SSWM225 Conflict, Rights and Justice
- 7SSWM186 International Law and the Use of Force
- 6SSW3036 War and Genocide
- 6SSW3037 Contending with Legacies of Atrocity
Professor Kerr currently supervises PhD students working on the following topics:
- UK war crimes trials in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Justice and reintegration in post-conflict Central African Republic
- Anglo-American Diplomacy, Human Rights and the Slave Trade
- Contending with reconciliation and legacies of atrocity in Nigeria
- Post-conflict education and transitional justice in Sri Lanka
Research centres
- War Crimes Research Group
- Arts and Conflict Hub
- Conflict Records Unit
- Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network
Research

War Crimes Research Group
Conducting research and teaching on war crimes (broadly conceived) and war.
Status not set
Visual Embodied Methodologies Network
Creating spaces of knowledge-exchange and research excellence around visual, embodied and art-based methodologies within, across and beyond Social Sciences.
Status not set
Arts & Conflict Hub
The Arts & Conflicts hub uses artistic mediums to communicate, teach and research the complexities of conflict
Status not set
Conflict Records Unit
The Conflict Records Unit specialises in primary sources of contentious, war-related provenance and enduring historical value
Status not set
Intersectional Gendered Violence
The project looks at sexual harassment against and among young people, resistance & activism among migrant women and conflict-related gendered trauma and pain.
Project status: Ongoing
News
ESRC Methods grant for innovative projects analysing the experience of gendered violence
The Visual and Embodied Methodologies (VEM) Network at King’s has secured funding for projects on sexual harassment, conflict-related gendered trauma,...

Events

Accounting for War Crimes: British military justice twenty years on from the death of Baha Mousa
Hosted by the War Crimes Research Group, the session seeks to reflect upon the events of the last twenty years of British accountability, and analyse what has...
Please note: this event has passed.
Research

War Crimes Research Group
Conducting research and teaching on war crimes (broadly conceived) and war.
Status not set
Visual Embodied Methodologies Network
Creating spaces of knowledge-exchange and research excellence around visual, embodied and art-based methodologies within, across and beyond Social Sciences.
Status not set
Arts & Conflict Hub
The Arts & Conflicts hub uses artistic mediums to communicate, teach and research the complexities of conflict
Status not set
Conflict Records Unit
The Conflict Records Unit specialises in primary sources of contentious, war-related provenance and enduring historical value
Status not set
Intersectional Gendered Violence
The project looks at sexual harassment against and among young people, resistance & activism among migrant women and conflict-related gendered trauma and pain.
Project status: Ongoing
News
ESRC Methods grant for innovative projects analysing the experience of gendered violence
The Visual and Embodied Methodologies (VEM) Network at King’s has secured funding for projects on sexual harassment, conflict-related gendered trauma,...

Events

Accounting for War Crimes: British military justice twenty years on from the death of Baha Mousa
Hosted by the War Crimes Research Group, the session seeks to reflect upon the events of the last twenty years of British accountability, and analyse what has...
Please note: this event has passed.