Louise Richardson talks to Alec Russell

Vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford and international expert in terrorism Professor Louise Richardson gives this year’s Duke of Gloucester Lecture.

Richardson became the first woman to hold the post of vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford when she began her appointment at the start of this year.  She is a political scientist, a former principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews and has held a number of senior posts at Harvard. She won the Levenson Prize and the Abramson prize for her commitment to teaching while at Harvard.

Richardson specialises in the study of terrorism and her books include Democracy and Counterterrorism: Lessons from the Past; What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat; The Roots of Terrorism; and When Allies Differ. Her work on terrorism has won numerous awards including the Sumner Prize for work towards the prevention of war and the establishment of universal peace.

Here she talks to FT Weekend editor Alec Russell. Russell is a former foreign correspondent for the FT and Daily Telegraph and has covered wars in Bosnia and Croatia, the end of white rule and beginning of the Mandela presidency in South Africa and White House politics. He is author of three books including After Mandela - the Battle for the Soul of South Africa.

Last year’s Duke of Gloucester Lecture was given by then prime minister David Cameron.