Bianca Baggiarini

I joined Deakin in 2025 as a Lecturer in international relations. My interdisciplinary research examines the social, political, and ethical justifications for (and effects of) militarized remote and autonomous systems (RAS). My work is situated at the intersection between international political sociology and critical war, military, and security studies. I consider RAS as an assemblage of sociotechnical practices and ideas, and I am primarily interested in what RAS might tell us about the changing quality and character of war.

I completed my PhD at York University in sociology. Following my PhD, I undertook two post-docs: the first was at UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy, where I worked on topics related to military AI ethics, and the second was at the Australian National University, where I taught war studies in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.

I have two distinct projects that are specific to AI's social and ethical qualities and effects on the one hand, and the impact of AI for Australian defence and strategic thinking, on the other. The first project is on notions of “dis-embodied combat” and the future of wartime memory and commemoration. Here, I ask what is at stake ethically and politically (and specifically in terms of memory and commemoration practices) when a society attempts to transcend injury and death in war (an ethical 'good' on the surface) through new military technologies aimed at saving life 'on our side.' The second is a Defence-funded (2024-2027) joint project which collectively examines what deterrence strategy ought to look like for Australian strategic policy communities now and in the future. The project examines nuclear issues, the concept of 'tripwires,' and the extent to which remote and autonomous systems might reconfigure deterrence theory and practice.

My first book, Governing Military Sacrifice: Drones, Privatization, and the Future of War will be published in 2026 (University of Toronto Press).