Married war historians to give talk in Tokyo

Professor Stephen Badsey and Dr Phylomena Badsey have been invited to the International Forum on War History, which will be held in the Japanese capital on September 25 and 26.

The forum has been held each year since 2002, organised by the National Institute for Defence Studies – part of the Japanese Ministry of Defence – for leading historians and researchers from around the world to discuss issues and problems in areas of military history.

The theme of this year’s conference is diplomacy and strategy of the protection of islands in war.

Stephen Badsey is the University of Wolverhampton’s Professor of Conflict Studies and is an internationally acknowledged specialist on military-media issues since the middle 19th Century, including the uses of propaganda.

His wife Phylomena is a visiting lecturer on both the BA (Hons) War Studies and MA Conflict Studies courses at the University.

She recently gave an open talk on the role of women in a Home Guard battalion during the Second World War at Bantock House Museum, in Wolverhampton.

Stephen said that he was very honoured that he and his wife had been invited.

He said: “This is a highly prestigious international event for visiting scholars with high reputations. In my own case it follows an invitation which I accepted in 2011 to give historical briefings at NIDS on the 1982 Falklands War and the First World War.

“I will be speaking about the Falklands again, and Phylomena will be speaking about the German occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War.

“As far as we are aware, we are the first husband-and-wife combination from any university to receive this honour at the same time and Phylomena is one of the few women historians of war to be honoured in this way.”

ENDS

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Date Issued: Friday 20 September 2013