Anna Leander

Anna Leander is a Professor of International Relations/Political Science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, with affiliations to the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy and the Gender Centre. She has held prior positions at institutions such as the Copenhagen Business School and the University of Southern Denmark. Her research focuses on International Political Sociology, examining the intersections of digital technologies, humanitarian action, and critical security studies. Leander explores themes like the commercialization of security, materiality in global politics, and the aesthetic dimensions of security governance.

Her research interests include digital infrastructures, intersectional inequalities, artificial intelligence, colonialism, armed conflicts, and cybersecurity. She leads the project The Future of Humanitarian Design and has been involved in grants like the VIPRE project on preventing violent human rights abuses. Leander has authored/co-authored influential books such as Assembling Exclusive Expertise and Business and Global Governance, and her work often bridges sociological theory with empirical analysis of global security dynamics.

Leander’s recent publications engage with topics like cybersecurity certificates, the politics of digital apps, and the material-aesthetic dimensions of security. Her work emphasizes interdisciplinary methods, such as collaging and design-based approaches, to address complex global challenges. She actively contributes to debates on humanitarian ethics, technology governance, and the evolving role of expertise in conflict resolution.