Borderlands and the making of global (dis)order

Dr. Daniel Agbiboa

An Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, where he is also affiliated with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Bloomberg Center for Cities, the Harvard Center for African Studies and the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative. A former Assistant Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, he holds a DPhil from Oxford and an MPhil from Cambridge. His research examines violence and order, urban governance, mobility, environmental politics, empire and African subjectivity, using discourse analysis and ethnographic methods. He is the author and editor of several influential books on urban politics and mobility in Africa, and his scholarship has received numerous major awards, including honours from the International Studies Association, APSA and the American Sociological Association.

Dr. Brian Wong

An Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong and a political theorist whose work examines authoritarian regimes, historical and colonial injustices, and the interplay between domestic politics and foreign policy in East Asia, particularly China. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a DPhil in Politics and an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford, as well as an MA in PPE. Wong has taught politics at Oxford and Stanford, co‑founded the Oxford Political Review, and contributes widely to international publications including TIME, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat and the Financial Times. His commentary has been featured in major outlets such as The Atlantic, Nikkei and POLITICO, and he serves as Strategy Head for Polemix while advising various think-tanks and contributing to platforms focused on US–China relations.

Dr. Annette Idler

An Associate Professor in Global Security, Blavatnik School of Government, and Founding Director of the Global Security Programme at Oxford’s Pembroke College. She studies evolving security dynamics in the context of armed conflict and the global illicit economy, transitions from war to peace, and state responses to insecurity. She is the author of Borderland Battles: Violence, Crime, and Governance at the Edges of Colombia’s War and co-editor of Transforming the War on Drugs: Warriors, Victims, and Vulnerable Regions. Her work has appeared in journals such as World Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Global Security Studies. Her work has been highly esteemed and recognised internationally. She also won the 2020 University of Oxford’s Vice Chancellor Innovation Award for her work on “Re-thinking Conflict, Building Peace”. Dr Idler advises governments and international organisations and is a regular expert for internationally renowned media outlets.

Dr. John Helferich

A Lecturer in Politics at Hertford College, University of Oxford, and an early‑career researcher specialising in European security and the changing international order. He holds a DPhil in International Relations from Oxford and a Master’s in International Security from Sciences Po Paris, graduating summa cum laude. His research examines how evolving forms of cooperation and conflict shape transformations in European defence, with work spanning EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), NATO relations, and the strategies of terrorist groups exploiting vulnerabilities in liberal democracies. Helferich’s interdisciplinary approach draws on sociological, evolutionary and psychological perspectives, and his work has been supported by competitive grants from Oxford and the DAAD. He teaches a wide range of politics and international relations papers in PPE and contributes to European security research networks, including serving as the UK representative and Working Group Chair for the COST Action Networking European Security Knowledge (2025–2029).