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Faculty of Arts and Science professor Yolande Bouka (Political Studies) has been named co-director of the newly-launched Research Network on Women, Peace, and Security an international bilingual research hub leading a multi-faceted study of the Government of Canada’s agenda.

The Network was recently funded $750,000 over three years by the Department of National Defence via the (MINDS) program. The program was created to invest in and expand defence engagement, facilitate knowledge exchange among researchers in Canada, support innovative and multidisciplinary research, and diffuse research results to academics, policy-makers, and the general public.

“The MINDS Research Network on Women, Peace and Security constitutes a fantastic opportunity for scholars, practitioners, and activists, including those from historically excluded groups, to help advance inclusive peace and security domestically and internationally through robust research and sustained knowledge exchange practices,” says Dr. Bouka

Dr. Bouka’s research and teaching focuses on gender, violence, decoloniality, race and international relations, and African affairs.

The network has three main areas of focus:

• Climate change as a growing threat to resilience and security.
• The evolution of Canada’s defence relations and participation in multilateral missions to protect populations.
• The future security challenges at home and abroad that require adaptation in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Within these thematic areas, the Research Network on Women, Peace, and Security will focus on the gendered impacts of armed conflict and other security threats, the forces and factors that are undermining the Women, Peace, and Security  agenda, the implementation of Canada’s new , and the consequences of the military’s engagement in new security challenges for the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian society more broadly.

“We hope that this Network will be part of a broader conversation to rethink how Canada engages with issues of Women, Peace and Security at home and abroad,” says Dr. Bouka.

Joining Dr. Bouka as co-directors are Erin Baines, Associate Professor and the Ivan Head South-North Chair at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, and Jennifer Welsh, Professor of Political Science at McGill University.

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