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16 June 2026
13:15 – 14:30 BST
Newcastle University
Frederick Douglass Centre Lecture Threatre
Speakers
Michal Grahn
Elisabeth Olivius
Weronika Grzebalska
Alejandra López Villegas
This keynote roundtable invites critical feminist responses to the rise of illiberalism amid multiple crises – social, economic, political - all with profoundly intersectional gendered effects.
The erosion of hard-won rights and equalities often incites us to defend liberal democracy, despite extensive feminist critiques of its limitations and internal contradictions. The key question is, when we critique the illiberal wave, what are we defending and advocating for?
Michal is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Uppsala University. His research focuses on gender, sexuality, political behavior, public attitudes, and political representation. His work has been published in The Journal of Politics, Journal of European Public Policy, Political Behavior, West European Politics, and European Journal of Political Research, among other outlets.
Michal is the recipient of three major research grants from the Swedish Research Council, supporting projects on LGBTQ+ political behavior and integration. Starting July 1, he will serve as co–Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Politics and Gender.
Elisabeth is an Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Political Science, Umeå University, Sweden. Her current research explores the role of women's organisations in peacebuilding and resistance and the politics of women's rights in authoritarian and hybrid conflict-affected regimes.
Weronika is a Sociologist and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where her research focuses on socio-institutional transformations in contemporary Poland and Central Europe. Her work explores defence and (para)militarism, war and memory, illiberal politics, and gender politics. She has published in journals including Critical Military Studies, Armed Forces and Society, Women's Studies International Forum, and Politics and Governance.
Weronika has held fellowships from the Kościuszko Foundation, the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Working within the tradition of public sociology, she combines academic research with engagement in public debate and social change. Her current project examines the gender politics of comprehensive defence and societal resilience on NATO’s Eastern Flank.
Alejandra is an Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at Lake Forest College. Her work examines the intersection of democratic backsliding and gender politics in Latin America. Her book project, How Power Consolidation Harms Women's Rights: The Gender Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding, argues that left-wing incumbents with power consolidation aspirations strategically use women's rights to entrench their rule.
Alejandra's work has been published in Legislative Studies Quarterly and Edward Elgar. She received the 2025 Empirical Study of Gender and Politics Best Paper Award and holds a PhD from Michigan State University.