Dr Rhys Crilley

  • Lecturer in International Relations (Political & International Studies)

Biography

Dr Rhys Crilley is an award winning academic who is currently a Lecturer in International Relations and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow leading the Atomic Anxiety in the New Nuclear Age project.

Rhys joined Glasgow in May 2020, and his research explores the contemporary politics of nuclear weapons by analysing and aiming to improve nuclear arms control and disarmament efforts. His first book Unparalleled Catatstrophe: Life and Death in the Third Nuclear Age has been described as "timely and excellent" by a former British Foreign Secretary, and upon publication it was an Arms Control Association Book of Note and well reviewed in prominent academic journals and policy outlets.

Rhys is also a co-author of Russia, Disinformation, and the Liberal Order, and a co-editor of the Oxford University Press textbook Thinking World Politics Otherwise. Rhys has convened and taught large introductory courses to International Relations (IR) with cohorts of over 500 students, as well as specialist classes on contemporary issues in IR and security. 

Alongside research and teaching, Rhys is a deputy editor at the journal Politics, on the managament committee of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs, and a co-director of the Nuclear Researchers Network-UK.

Prior to starting at Glasgow, Rhys was employed as a Post Doctoral Research Associate in Global Media and Communication at The Open University, where he worked on the AHRC funded project: Reframing Russia for the Global Mediasphere: From Cold War to “Information War”? Before this, in 2016 and 2017, he was a Teaching Fellow in Intelligence and International Security at the University of Warwick.

Rhys was awarded his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2016. That same year he was awarded the International Studies International Communication Section's Best Paper Award. In 2017 Rhys was nominated by his students at the University of Warwick for a Warwick Award in Teaching Excellence.

In the space of several years, Rhys has published over 30 peer reviewed articles and book chapters in prestigious outlets such as International Journal of Press/Politics, International Studies Review, Millennium, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Media, War and Conflict, The Hauge Journal of Diplomacy, Journalism, Media & Communication, and International Affairs. 

Research interests

  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Critical Approaches to Security
  • Social Media and International Political Communication
  • Popular Culture and World Politics
  • Visual Global Politics

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
Number of items: 36.

2025

Thomas, O. D., Basham, V. and Crilley, R. (2025) Death and denial in the city: making sense of London Bridge and Grenfell. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, (doi: 10.1177/23996544251326476) (Early Online Publication)

Crilley, R. and Pantoliano Panico, C. (2025) Advancing Nuclear Disarmament in the Third Nuclear Age. [Research Reports or Papers]

2024

Hutchings, S., Tolz, V., Chatterje-Doody, P., Crilley, R. and Gillespie, M. (2024) Russia, Disinformation, and the Liberal Order: RT as Populist Pariah. Series: NIU series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501777653

Crilley, R. (2024) Should we be writing at a time like this? Reflections on abolition, political science and International Relations. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, (doi: 10.1177/13691481241267173) (Early Online Publication)

Crilley, R. (2024) Digital nuclear diplomacy. In: Bjola, Corneliu and Manor, Ilan (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Digital Diplomacy. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press, pp. 138-156. ISBN 9780191949715 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192859198.013.8)

2023

Crilley, R. (2023) Unparalleled Catastrophe: Life and Death in the Third Nuclear Age. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526170446

2022

Chatterje‐Doody, P. and Crilley, R. (2022) Three lessons for the future of public service broadcasting. IPPR Progressive Review, 29(1), pp. 28-36. (doi: 10.1111/newe.12296)

Saunders, R. A., Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. N. (2022) ICYMI: RT and youth-oriented international broadcasting as (geo)political culture jamming. International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), pp. 696-717. (doi: 10.1177/19401612211072771)

Crilley, R. , Gillespie, M., Kazakov, V. and Willis, A. (2022) ‘Russia isn’t a country of Putins!’: How RT bridged the credibility gap in Russian public diplomacy during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 24(1), pp. 136-152. (doi: 10.1177/13691481211013713)

Crilley, R. , Gillespie, M., Vidgen, B. and Willis, A. (2022) Understanding RT’s audiences: exposure not endorsement for Twitter followers of Russian state-sponsored media. International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(1), pp. 220-242. (doi: 10.1177/1940161220980692)

2021

Dajani, D., Gillespie, M. and Crilley, R. (2021) Differentiated visibilities: RT Arabic’s narration of Russia’s role in the Syrian war. Media, War and Conflict, 14(4), pp. 437-458. (doi: 10.1177/1750635219889075)

Tolz, V., Hutchings, S., Chaterje-Doody, P. N. and Crilley, R. (2021) Mediatization and journalistic agency: Russian television coverage of the Skripal poisonings. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 22(12), pp. 2971-2990. (doi: 10.1177/1464884920941967)

Jackson, S. T., Crilley, R. , Manor, I., Baker, C., Oshikoya, M., Joachim, J., Robinson, N., Schneiker, A., Grove, N. S. and Enloe, C. (2021) Forum: militarization 2.0: communication and the normalization of political violence in the digital age. International Studies Review, 23(3), pp. 1046-1071. (doi: 10.1093/isr/viaa035)

Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. N. (2021) From Russia with lols: humour, RT, and the legitimation of Russian foreign policy. Global Society, 35(2), pp. 269-288. (doi: 10.1080/13600826.2020.1839387)

Crilley, R. (2021) Where we at? New directions for research on popular culture and world politics. International Studies Review, 23(1), pp. 164-180. (doi: 10.1093/isr/viaa027)

Crilley, R. and Pears, L. (2021) 'No, we don't know where Tupac is': Critical Intelligence Studies and the significance of the CIA on Social Media. Intelligence and National Security, 36(4), pp. 599-614. (doi: 10.1080/02684527.2021.1893079)

2020

Crilley, R. , Manor, I. and Bjola, C. (2020) Visual narratives of global politics in the digital age: an introduction. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(5), pp. 628-637. (doi: 10.1080/09557571.2020.1813465)

Crilley, R. and Manor, I. (2020) Un-nation branding: the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israeli soft power. In: Amiri, Sohaela and Sevin, Efe (eds.) City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects. Series: Palgrave Macmillan series in global public diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 137-160. ISBN 9783030456146 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-45615-3_7)

Crilley, R. , Gillespie, M. and Willis, A. (2020) Tweeting the Russian revolution: RT’s #1917LIVE and social media re-enactments as public diplomacy. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(3), pp. 354-373. (doi: 10.1177/1367549419871353)

Manor, I. and Crilley, R. (2020) The mediatisation of MFAS: diplomacy in the new media ecology. Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 15(1-2), pp. 66-92. (doi: 10.1163/1871191X-15101051)

Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. N. (2020) Emotions and war on YouTube: affective investments in RT’s visual narratives of the conflict in Syria. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(5), pp. 713-733. (doi: 10.1080/09557571.2020.1719038)

2019

Crilley, R. (2019) Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President—What We Don’t, Can’t, and Do Know. Journal of Communication, 69(4), E10-E12. (doi: 10.1093/joc/jqz017)[Book Review]

Crilley, R. (2019) This Is belonging: children and British military recruitment. In: Drumbl, Mark A. and Barrett, Jastine C. (eds.) Research Handbook on Child Soldiers. Series: Research handbooks in international law. Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK, pp. 132-148. ISBN 9781788114479 (doi: 10.4337/9781788114486.00015)

Saunders, R. A. and Crilley, R. (2019) Pissing on the past: the highland clearances, effigial resistance and the everyday politics of the urinal = Pisser sur le passé: Les dédouanements des hautes terres, la résistance à l’effigie et la politique quotidienne de l’urinoir = Orinando en el pasado: Las separaciones de las tierras altas, la resistencia efigial y la política cotidiana del urinario. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 47(3), pp. 444-469. (doi: 10.1177/0305829819840422)

Chaterje-Doody, P. N. and Crilley, R. (2019) Populism and contemporary global media: populist communication logics and the co-construction of Transnational identities. In: Stengel, Frank A., MacDonald, David B. and Nabers, Dirk (eds.) Populism and World Politics: Exploring Inter- and Transnational Dimensions. Series: Global political sociology. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 73-99. ISBN 9783030046200 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-04621-7_4)

Crilley, R. and Gillespie, M. (2019) What to do about social media? Politics, populism and journalism. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 20(1), pp. 173-176. (doi: 10.1177/1464884918807344)

Chatterje-Doody, P. N. and Crilley, R. (2019) Making sense of emotions and affective investments in war: RT and the Syrian conflict on YouTube. Media and Communication, 7(3), pp. 167-178. (doi: 10.17645/mac.v7i3.1911)

Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. (2019) Security studies in the age of ‘post-truth’ politics: in defence of poststructuralism. Critical Studies on Security, 7(2), pp. 166-170. (doi: 10.1080/21624887.2018.1441634)

2018

Manor, I. and Crilley, R. (2018) The aesthetics of violent extremist and counter-violent extremist communication. In: Bjola, Corneliu and Pamment, James (eds.) Countering Online Propaganda and Extremism: the Dark Side of Digital Diplomacy. Series: Routledge new diplomacy studies. Routledge: London ; New York, pp. 121-139. ISBN 9781138578623 (doi: 10.4324/9781351264082-8)

Manor, I. and Crilley, R. (2018) Visually framing the Gaza War of 2014: the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Twitter. Media, War and Conflict, 11(4), pp. 369-391. (doi: 10.1177/1750635218780564)

Crilley, R. (2018) International relations in the age of ‘post-truth’ politics. International Affairs, 94(2), pp. 417-425. (doi: 10.1093/ia/iiy038)

2017

Crilley, R. (2017) Seeing Syria. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 10(2-3), pp. 133-158. (doi: 10.1163/18739865-01002004)

da Silva, R. and Crilley, R. (2017) “Talk about terror in our back gardens”: an analysis of online comments about British foreign fighters in Syria. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 10(1), pp. 162-186. (doi: 10.1080/17539153.2016.1237011)

2016

Crilley, R. (2016) Like and share forces: making sense of military social media sites. In: Shepherd, Laura J. and Hamilton, Caitlin (eds.) Understanding Popular Culture and World Politics in the Digital Age. Series: Popular culture and world politics. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 51-67. ISBN 9781138940284 (doi: 10.4324/9781315673394-4)

Crilley, R. (2016) Counter-recruitment and anti-military organizing: lessons from the field. Critical Military Studies, 2(3), pp. 267-270. (doi: 10.1080/23337486.2016.1192830)

2015

Crilley, R. (2015) Seeing strategic narratives? Critical Studies on Security, 3(3), pp. 331-333. (doi: 10.1080/21624887.2015.1103016)

This list was generated on Thu Apr 17 07:21:53 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 36.

Articles

Thomas, O. D., Basham, V. and Crilley, R. (2025) Death and denial in the city: making sense of London Bridge and Grenfell. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, (doi: 10.1177/23996544251326476) (Early Online Publication)

Crilley, R. (2024) Should we be writing at a time like this? Reflections on abolition, political science and International Relations. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, (doi: 10.1177/13691481241267173) (Early Online Publication)

Chatterje‐Doody, P. and Crilley, R. (2022) Three lessons for the future of public service broadcasting. IPPR Progressive Review, 29(1), pp. 28-36. (doi: 10.1111/newe.12296)

Saunders, R. A., Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. N. (2022) ICYMI: RT and youth-oriented international broadcasting as (geo)political culture jamming. International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), pp. 696-717. (doi: 10.1177/19401612211072771)

Crilley, R. , Gillespie, M., Kazakov, V. and Willis, A. (2022) ‘Russia isn’t a country of Putins!’: How RT bridged the credibility gap in Russian public diplomacy during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 24(1), pp. 136-152. (doi: 10.1177/13691481211013713)

Crilley, R. , Gillespie, M., Vidgen, B. and Willis, A. (2022) Understanding RT’s audiences: exposure not endorsement for Twitter followers of Russian state-sponsored media. International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(1), pp. 220-242. (doi: 10.1177/1940161220980692)

Dajani, D., Gillespie, M. and Crilley, R. (2021) Differentiated visibilities: RT Arabic’s narration of Russia’s role in the Syrian war. Media, War and Conflict, 14(4), pp. 437-458. (doi: 10.1177/1750635219889075)

Tolz, V., Hutchings, S., Chaterje-Doody, P. N. and Crilley, R. (2021) Mediatization and journalistic agency: Russian television coverage of the Skripal poisonings. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 22(12), pp. 2971-2990. (doi: 10.1177/1464884920941967)

Jackson, S. T., Crilley, R. , Manor, I., Baker, C., Oshikoya, M., Joachim, J., Robinson, N., Schneiker, A., Grove, N. S. and Enloe, C. (2021) Forum: militarization 2.0: communication and the normalization of political violence in the digital age. International Studies Review, 23(3), pp. 1046-1071. (doi: 10.1093/isr/viaa035)

Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. N. (2021) From Russia with lols: humour, RT, and the legitimation of Russian foreign policy. Global Society, 35(2), pp. 269-288. (doi: 10.1080/13600826.2020.1839387)

Crilley, R. (2021) Where we at? New directions for research on popular culture and world politics. International Studies Review, 23(1), pp. 164-180. (doi: 10.1093/isr/viaa027)

Crilley, R. and Pears, L. (2021) 'No, we don't know where Tupac is': Critical Intelligence Studies and the significance of the CIA on Social Media. Intelligence and National Security, 36(4), pp. 599-614. (doi: 10.1080/02684527.2021.1893079)

Crilley, R. , Manor, I. and Bjola, C. (2020) Visual narratives of global politics in the digital age: an introduction. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(5), pp. 628-637. (doi: 10.1080/09557571.2020.1813465)

Crilley, R. , Gillespie, M. and Willis, A. (2020) Tweeting the Russian revolution: RT’s #1917LIVE and social media re-enactments as public diplomacy. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(3), pp. 354-373. (doi: 10.1177/1367549419871353)

Manor, I. and Crilley, R. (2020) The mediatisation of MFAS: diplomacy in the new media ecology. Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 15(1-2), pp. 66-92. (doi: 10.1163/1871191X-15101051)

Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. N. (2020) Emotions and war on YouTube: affective investments in RT’s visual narratives of the conflict in Syria. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(5), pp. 713-733. (doi: 10.1080/09557571.2020.1719038)

Saunders, R. A. and Crilley, R. (2019) Pissing on the past: the highland clearances, effigial resistance and the everyday politics of the urinal = Pisser sur le passé: Les dédouanements des hautes terres, la résistance à l’effigie et la politique quotidienne de l’urinoir = Orinando en el pasado: Las separaciones de las tierras altas, la resistencia efigial y la política cotidiana del urinario. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 47(3), pp. 444-469. (doi: 10.1177/0305829819840422)

Crilley, R. and Gillespie, M. (2019) What to do about social media? Politics, populism and journalism. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 20(1), pp. 173-176. (doi: 10.1177/1464884918807344)

Chatterje-Doody, P. N. and Crilley, R. (2019) Making sense of emotions and affective investments in war: RT and the Syrian conflict on YouTube. Media and Communication, 7(3), pp. 167-178. (doi: 10.17645/mac.v7i3.1911)

Crilley, R. and Chatterje-Doody, P. (2019) Security studies in the age of ‘post-truth’ politics: in defence of poststructuralism. Critical Studies on Security, 7(2), pp. 166-170. (doi: 10.1080/21624887.2018.1441634)

Manor, I. and Crilley, R. (2018) Visually framing the Gaza War of 2014: the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Twitter. Media, War and Conflict, 11(4), pp. 369-391. (doi: 10.1177/1750635218780564)

Crilley, R. (2018) International relations in the age of ‘post-truth’ politics. International Affairs, 94(2), pp. 417-425. (doi: 10.1093/ia/iiy038)

Crilley, R. (2017) Seeing Syria. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 10(2-3), pp. 133-158. (doi: 10.1163/18739865-01002004)

da Silva, R. and Crilley, R. (2017) “Talk about terror in our back gardens”: an analysis of online comments about British foreign fighters in Syria. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 10(1), pp. 162-186. (doi: 10.1080/17539153.2016.1237011)

Crilley, R. (2016) Counter-recruitment and anti-military organizing: lessons from the field. Critical Military Studies, 2(3), pp. 267-270. (doi: 10.1080/23337486.2016.1192830)

Crilley, R. (2015) Seeing strategic narratives? Critical Studies on Security, 3(3), pp. 331-333. (doi: 10.1080/21624887.2015.1103016)

Books

Hutchings, S., Tolz, V., Chatterje-Doody, P., Crilley, R. and Gillespie, M. (2024) Russia, Disinformation, and the Liberal Order: RT as Populist Pariah. Series: NIU series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501777653

Crilley, R. (2023) Unparalleled Catastrophe: Life and Death in the Third Nuclear Age. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526170446

Book Sections

Crilley, R. (2024) Digital nuclear diplomacy. In: Bjola, Corneliu and Manor, Ilan (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Digital Diplomacy. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press, pp. 138-156. ISBN 9780191949715 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192859198.013.8)

Crilley, R. and Manor, I. (2020) Un-nation branding: the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israeli soft power. In: Amiri, Sohaela and Sevin, Efe (eds.) City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects. Series: Palgrave Macmillan series in global public diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 137-160. ISBN 9783030456146 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-45615-3_7)

Crilley, R. (2019) This Is belonging: children and British military recruitment. In: Drumbl, Mark A. and Barrett, Jastine C. (eds.) Research Handbook on Child Soldiers. Series: Research handbooks in international law. Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK, pp. 132-148. ISBN 9781788114479 (doi: 10.4337/9781788114486.00015)

Chaterje-Doody, P. N. and Crilley, R. (2019) Populism and contemporary global media: populist communication logics and the co-construction of Transnational identities. In: Stengel, Frank A., MacDonald, David B. and Nabers, Dirk (eds.) Populism and World Politics: Exploring Inter- and Transnational Dimensions. Series: Global political sociology. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 73-99. ISBN 9783030046200 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-04621-7_4)

Manor, I. and Crilley, R. (2018) The aesthetics of violent extremist and counter-violent extremist communication. In: Bjola, Corneliu and Pamment, James (eds.) Countering Online Propaganda and Extremism: the Dark Side of Digital Diplomacy. Series: Routledge new diplomacy studies. Routledge: London ; New York, pp. 121-139. ISBN 9781138578623 (doi: 10.4324/9781351264082-8)

Crilley, R. (2016) Like and share forces: making sense of military social media sites. In: Shepherd, Laura J. and Hamilton, Caitlin (eds.) Understanding Popular Culture and World Politics in the Digital Age. Series: Popular culture and world politics. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 51-67. ISBN 9781138940284 (doi: 10.4324/9781315673394-4)

Book Reviews

Crilley, R. (2019) Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President—What We Don’t, Can’t, and Do Know. Journal of Communication, 69(4), E10-E12. (doi: 10.1093/joc/jqz017)[Book Review]

Research Reports or Papers

Crilley, R. and Pantoliano Panico, C. (2025) Advancing Nuclear Disarmament in the Third Nuclear Age. [Research Reports or Papers]

This list was generated on Thu Apr 17 07:21:53 2025 BST.

Grants

  • UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship: Atomic Anxiety in the New Nuclear Age.
    • June 2024 - May 2028. Grant number: MR/X034690/1. £1,149,833
  • Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship: Narratives of Nuclear Weapons.
    • May 2020 - April 2023. £91,163

Supervision

I am interested in supervising students in any areas related to my research interests:

  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Critical Approaches to Security
  • Social Media and International Political Communication
  • Popular Culture and World Politics
  • Visual Global Politics

If you are interested in studying for a PhD under my supervision please only reach out once you have clear ideas for your research proposal.

Professional activities & recognition

Prizes, awards & distinctions

  • 2016: Best Paper Award for the best paper presented in the International Communication section at the International Studies Association annual conference in New Orleans, USA (International Studies Association International Communication Section)

Research fellowships

  • 2020 - 2023: Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship
  • 2024 - 2028: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship

Grant committees & research advisory boards

  • 2024: Swiss National Science Foundation,
  • 2025: MacArthur Foundation,

Editorial boards

  • 2024: Politics

Dr Rhys Crilley on Bluesky Dr Rhys Crilley on Twitter