Paul Beaumont promoted to Research Professor

Paul Beaumont has been a Senior Research Fellow in the Research Group for Global Order and Diplomacy (GOaD) at NUPI for the past six years. This week, he was promoted to Research Professor.

“Having written a book about international status competition, I must admit to a certain ambivalence towards academia’s formal hierarchies. That said, the rather demanding process of applying for promotion to research professor provided a welcome opportunity to pause, take stock and reflect upon my work to date,” Beaumont says. 

He also admits he felt considerable trepidation when he submitted his application, putting his research and public engagement up for scrutiny by a committee of leading scholars in his field.

“To discover that three scholars whom I hold in such high esteem – Rens van Munster, Anders Wivel and Maria Mälksoo – considered my life’s work to date to meet the high standards set out for research professors was humbling and heartening. I am grateful to them for taking on the job – reading more than 300,000 words – and for their careful, fair and insightful assessment. At the risk of sounding like a self-help influencer, I felt that my work had been ‘seen’,” he says wryly.

In his application, Beaumont organised his work into three thematic pillars – status research, critical security studies, and international institutions and global governance – and a cross-cutting article on the disciplinary history of IR.

In their assessment, the committee states that “the applicant’s ability to move between different academic genres and themes is impressive and commendable” and that he has built an internationally recognized research profile with a distinct voice and contribution.

“A Champions League achievement”

Beaumont already has an impressive track record. In 2024, his research project 'Navigating the Era of Indicators' (Navigator) was one of 14 Norwegian research projects to receive 'Starting Grant' funding from the European Research Council in competition with 3,474 applicants from all over Europe. The project was granted 18 million NOK and will last five years. 

“This is a Champions League achievement in research funding acquisition and constitutes a stellar start to an independent post-doctoral research career,” the committee writes in their assessment.

NUPI Director Kari M. Osland congratulates Beaumont on his achievement: 

“In just a few years, Paul has built a research profile with a clear voice of his own, including an award-winning book with Oxford University Press and an ERC Starting Grant. In addition, he has written more than twenty op-eds in Norwegian newspapers, showing how seriously he takes public outreach. The promotion is well deserved, and we are very proud of him,“ Osland says.

Research Director Kristin Haugevik speaks equally highly of his academic work and his collegiality:

“Paul's work is distinguished by its originality and theoretical sophistication, and has contributed to advancing our understanding of issues ranging from status-seeking in international politics, to nuclear questions, Brexit and international governance. Beyond his impressive scholarly record, Paul is also a generous, supportive, and highly valued colleague at NUPI. I warmly congratulate him on this well-deserved promotion!” 

“Blessed with brilliant colleagues”

Beaumont is full of praise for his colleagues, both at NUPI and at institutions where he has previously worked:

“The process of compiling my professor file also underlined how fortunate I have been in terms of mentors and working environment at NUPI, NMBU and in my broader network. Academia has become infamous in recent years for its unfortunate combination of a sharp-elbowed culture and administrative bloat, yet my experience has been quite the opposite,” he says, elaborating:

“I have been blessed with brilliant and generous colleagues, and my research has been enabled by numerous long-term collaborations, a sharp and constructive feedback culture, and an administrative team that consistently helps rather than hinders my work. Moreover, my research has benefited from NUPI practising what it preaches on academic freedom, and from the encouragement to let my research and public outreach go where the evidence and analysis point – without fear of reprisal. I would thus like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at NUPI and NMBU for making my career both possible and so enjoyable.” 

Lauds Norway’s education system

Beaumont says his career trajectory testifies to Norway’s enlightened and effective commitment to publicly funded education:

“The outstanding master’s education I received in Norway, which allowed me to discover my academic vocation, would have been beyond my means in my home country (the UK), certainly on the wages of an underpaid and overworked English teacher. While Brexit and Norway’s recent introduction of fees have combined to close off the path I took, the underlying logic remains important for Norwegians: free master’s education enables those who lack resources to realise their potential.”

What next?

“Having started out under the inspiring mentorship of Benjamin de Carvalho, Halvard Leira, Kirsti Stuvøy and Stig Jarle Hansen at NMBU, and continued at NUPI with Elana Wilson Rowe, Julie Wilhelmsen, Cedric de Coning and Jon Harald Sande Lie, I recognise that I have a lot to pay forward,” Beaumont states.

“With my new project, Navigating the Era of Indicators, I strive to do just that: to give our team the intellectual, professional and collegial support they need to flourish, and to produce research they can be proud of and from which society benefits. Our hope is to generate knowledge that furthers our understanding of the use and abuse of governance indicators, and thereby helps provide international society and its members with the means to foster more judicious indicator practices, and with them a firmer evidence base for policymaking.”