Dr. Siobhan Byrne
Dr. Siobhan Byrne
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Director of the Certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies
10-16 Henry Marshall Tory Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta CanadaT6G 2H4
Tel: 780-935-1838, E-mail:
Personal information
Canadian citizenship
Irish citizenship
Professional career
University of Alberta (2009–)*
2009– Assistant Professor of Political Science
2010– Acting Director of the Certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies
*(maternity leave February 2012–January 2013; January 2014–January 2015)
Education
2008–09 Postdoctoral Fellowship University College Dublin, Ireland, School of Politics and International Relations and The John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies
Project: The Irish Experience of Conflict Resolution in a Comparative Context
Supervisor: Jennifer Todd
2009 PhD Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada, Department of Political Studies
Dissertation: Beyond the Ethnonational Divide: Identity Politics and Women in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine
Fields of concentration: International Relations and Comparative Politics
Supervisors: John McGarry and Eleanor MacDonald
Committee: Simona Sharoni (external examiner), Will Kymlicka, Abigail Bakan, and Oded Haklai
2002 MA Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada, Department of Political Studies
Major Research Project: Constructing Subaltern National Identity Under Hegemony: The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Supervisors: Charles Pentland and Louis Delvoie
2001 Bachelor of Journalism and Political Science Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Bachelor’s Degree, Highest Honours Distinction
Areas of concentration: International Reportage, International Relations
Teaching experience
Graduate supervision
2012–14 Dr. Rebecca Graff-McRae, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship
Title: ‘Neither Prison nor Museum’: The Politics of Conflict Memory in Northern Ireland
2012– Leigh Spanner, PhD student
Title: Constituting the Military: The Family’s Material and Symbolic Role in Upholding the Canadian Military
2015– Emrah Keshkin, PhD student
Topic: Transitional justice and public health in post-conflict zones
2013– Ardythe Harder, MA candidate thesis stream
Title: The Role of Narrative in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
2012–13 Bailey Gerrits, MA candidate, JA Bombardier-CGS Scholarship recipient
Title: Sexual Violence in post-Apartheid South Africa
2013– Supervisory committee: Tony Bislimi, PhD student
Title: The Politics of International State-Building: Kosovo and the Emergence of Servile Elites
2013– Supervisory committee: Nicole Lugosi, PhD candidate
Title: Nationalist Narratives and Democratic Development in Hungary
2012– Supervisory committee: Yongjie Wang, PhD student
Title: An Intersectional Approach for Understanding Women’s Empowerment: A Study of Poor Rural Migrant Women Factory Workers in Nansha EPZ, Guangzhou, China
Undergraduate supervision
2015– Elisa Carbonaro, BA Honours
Topic: Post-conflict reconstruction and gender-based violence
2015– Renee Theberge, BA Honours
Topic: Syrian refugee crisis
2011–12 Bailey Gerrits, BA Honours
Title: Lazy Activism, ‘Corrective’ Rape and the Law:An Analysis of the 2010 Change.org Petition and its Impact on Mobilization in South Africa
2010–11 Jeannine Wilson, BA Honours
Title: Haiti from the Ground Up: Ethics of Care and Education Development Goals in post-Crisis Haiti
2013 Emma Kent, special undergraduate field research project in Cuba; funded through the University of Alberta Undergraduate Research Initiative Title: Mass Organizations and Women's Participation in Development: A Cuban Case Study
2011 Advisory committee member: Kevin Holowac, Individualized Major
Topic: International development
Courses developed and taught
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
POL S 261: Introduction to International Relations, lecture course (forthcoming 2016)
POL S 660: Theories of International Politics, core graduate course (2009, 2010, 2011, 2015)
POL S 690: Gender and Politics, core graduate course (2010, 2011, 2013)
POL S 445: Identity and Ethnic Conflict, seminar course (2010, 2011, forthcoming 2015)
POL S 459 / 560 / 566: Gender, Conflict & Security, seminar course (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
POL S 467: International Political Economy, seminar course (2007)
Teaching impact: In addition to the use of my textbook chapter in undergraduate classrooms, some of my other publications are included on university syllabi for courses such as: POLS 400: Constitutions, Conflict, and Transition (2013 Queen’s University, Canada); POLS 468: The International Relations of the Middle East (2014 Queen’s University, Canada); and the post-graduate course: Northern Ireland and the World (2009–10; 2011–12 Queen’s University, Northern Ireland).
Recent research grants
2015 Principle Investigator, Kule Institute for Advanced Study, Dialogue Grant, Symposium: Ethnicity and Gender in the Borderlands: $2,000
2014–19 Principle Investigator, SSHRC Insight Grant, Gender, Peace and Power-Sharing Practices in Political Transitions: $182,438
2011–17 Principle Investigator, SSHRC Insight Development Grant, CODEPINK Alert! Transitional Feminist Peace Activism in the Post-9/11 Period: $34,411
2011 Endowment Fund for the Future Competition: $4,933
2011 Endowment Fund for the Future Support for the Advancement of Scholarship Research Fund (SAS): $1,350
Other fellowships and awards
2008 Queen’s Centre for International Relations Travel Grant: $1,000
2006/7 Ontario Graduate Scholarship: $15,000
2006 Graduate Research Grant, Ethnicity & Democratic Governance Project: $3,680
2006 Graduate Dean’s Travel Grant for Doctoral Research: $3,000
2006 Timothy Franks Travel Research Award: $3,000
2005 Ireland-Canada Scholar, Ireland Canada University Foundation: $8,000
2005 R. Samuel McLaughlin Fellowship: $10,000
2004 Rabin Scholar, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University: $10,000 US
2004 Morgan Brown Scholarship, Queen's: $10,000
2004 Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University Award, Queen's: $4,500
2003 Franklin and Helene Bracken Fellowship, Queen's: $10,000
2001; 2003; 2005–06 Queen's Graduate Award: $1,000; $2,000; $1,025; $2,900
Publications
(2016 forthcoming) ‘Gender, Feminism, and the Global Political Economy,’ in Christopher Kukucha and Greg Anderson (eds.), Global Political Economy (Oxford University Press), 54–71.
(2016 forthcoming) ‘Gender, Peace and Power-Sharing in Political Transitions,’ with Allison McCulloch in Allison McCulloch and John McGarry (eds.), Power-Sharing: Empirical and Normative Challenges, London: Routledge.
(2014) ‘Troubled Engagement in Ethnicized Conflict: Negotiating Difference Among Feminist Activists in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland,’ International Feminist Journal of Politics 16 (1), 106–26.
(2013) 'International Relations and the Global,' in Janine Brodie, Sandra Rein, and Malinda S. Smith (eds.), Critical Concepts: An Introduction to Politics, 5th ed. (Toronto: Pearson), 182–95.
(2012) 'Gender, Representation and Power-Sharing in Post-Conflict Institutions,' with Allison McCulloch, International Peacekeeping 19 (5), 565–80.
(2010) 'Framing Post-9/11 Security: Tales of Securitization of the State and of the Experiences of Muslim Communities,' in Bruno Charbonneau and Wayne Cox (eds.), Locating Global Order: American Power and Canadian Security After 9/11 (Vancouver and Toronto: UBC Press), 167–82.
(2010) 'Identity Politics and Women: Struggling for Peace at the Margins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,' in Dan Avnon and Yotam Benziman (eds.), Plurality and Citizenship in Israel: Moving Beyond the Jewish/Palestinian Civic Divide (London and New York: Routledge), 205–20.
(2009) 'Women and the Transition from Conflict in Northern Ireland: Lessons for Peace-Building in Israel/Palestine,' IBIS Working Papers; 89 (Dublin: Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin), 1–18.
(2006) 'Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Horn: Reducing the Demand,' with Kifflemariam Grebrewold in Dorina A. Bekoe (ed.), East Africa and the Horn: Confronting Challenges to Good Governance (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner), 21–36.
Conference presentations and invited talks
(2015 forthcoming) Power-sharing Pacts and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Constructive Engagements (Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, November 6-7). This is an international workshop that I am organizing with my colleague Dr. Allison McCulloch as part of our SSHRC research project. We have invited an impressive roster of more than 15 leading academics, practitioners and graduate students working in the areas of international law and conflict resolution. In addition to setting the agenda and moderating the discussion, I am delivering a paper based on my new empirical research titled ‘Gendering Power-sharing Theory.’
(2015) ‘The War on Terror and the Refugee Crisis,’ Edmonton Peace Festival (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, September 30). This talk was part of a special academic-community panel I organized in association with Women in International Security Canada.
(2015) ‘Teaching (at) the ‘End of International Relations,’ Prairie Political Science Association Annual Conference (Banff, Alberta, September 11-13). This paper was part of a special panel I organized with Drs. Rob Aitken and Greg Anderson.
(2015) ‘Gender, Peace and Power-Sharing in Political Transitions’ with A. McCulloch,
International Studies Association Conference (New Orleans, February 18–21).
(2014) ‘War and Peace Camps in Feminist International Relations.’ I was invited to present this paper and participate in a workshop titled Challenging the ‘Women and Peace’ Hypothesis: New Approaches to Gender Roles in Peace-Making hosted by the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, June 16–18).
(2013) 'Teaching International Relations/International Political Economy: A Gendered Perspective,' Prairie Political Science Association Annual Conference (Banff Centre, Alberta, September 13–15).
(2013) 'Women and Political Transition in Afghanistan,' Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (University of Victoria, June 4–6). This paper was part of a special panel I organized with Drs. Allison McCulloch and Rebecca Graff-McRae.
(2012) 'CODEPINK and the Israeli Palestinian Conflict,' Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (University of Alberta, June 13–15).
(2011) 'Has UNSCR 1325 Made a Difference? A Gendered Examination of Power-Sharing Practices' with A. McCulloch. We were invited to present a paper and participate in a workshop titled Power-Sharing: Empirical and Normative Critiques hosted at the Munk School of Global Affairs (University of Toronto, November 18–19).
(2011) 'Power-Sharing, Peacebuilding and Gender: A Framework for Conflict Resolution' with A. McCulloch, Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (Wilfrid Laurier University, May 16–18).
(2011) 'Women and Post-Conflict Transitions: Lessons from Northern Ireland for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process,' International Studies Association Conference (Montreal, March 16–19).
(2010) 'Feminist Peace Activism in the Post-9/11 Realm,' Peace & Justice Studies Association Conference (University of Winnipeg and Menno Simons College, Winnipeg, Manitoba, October 1–2).
(2010) 'CODEPINK Alert! Transnational Feminist Peace Activism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.' I was invited to deliver the Annual Lecture for the Gender Frontiers Speaker Series (Brandon University, Manitoba, September 30).
(2010) 'Theorizing Identities in Conflict: The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,' Annual Conference of the Conflict Research Society: Peace and Conflict (Bradford University, United Kingdom, September 6–8).
(2010) 'Transnational Feminist Peace Activism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,' Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (Concordia University, Montreal, June 3).
(2010) ‘Mobilizing Against the Siege on Gaza: Representations of Gender in Transnational Feminist Peace Movements,’ Department of Political Science Seminar Series (University of Alberta, January 27).
(2009) ‘Women and Peace Activism. Case: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.’ I was invited to deliver a lecture at the annual Seminar on the United Nations and International Affairs (SUNIA), Nordegg, Alberta, August 27.
(2009) 'Identity Politics and Women’s Cross-community Organizations in Ethnicized Conflict: The Cases of Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine,' Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (Carleton University, Ottawa, May 28).
(2009) Roundtable: ‘Contemporary Women’s Activism and Conflict on the Island of Ireland.’ I organized and chaired this roundtable discussion, which included feminist peace activists from across the Island of Ireland and scholars and students from UCD and SUNY Plattsburgh (John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies, University College Dublin, May 23).
(2009) 'Comparative Experiences of Feminist Activism across the Ethnonational Divide in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine,' Situating Irishness: Fashioning Identity in Time and Space (John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, May 19). Conference co-organizer and presenter.
(2009) 'Women and the Transition from Conflict in Northern Ireland: Lessons for Peace- Building in Israel/Palestine,' The Impact of Devolution on Everyday Life: 1999–2009 (Institute for British-Irish Studies, Dublin, Ireland, February 6).
(2009) ‘Learning from Feminist Peace Activism: Lessons for Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland,’ Ethnicity and Democratic Governance Speaker Series (Queen’s University, Canada, January 8).
(2008) ‘Women’s Activism in Northern Ireland and Israel,’ Global Irish Studies Speaker Series (University College Dublin, Ireland, November 11).
(2008) 'Framing Post-9/11 Security: The Experiences of Canadian Muslim Women,' Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June 6).
(2008) 'Framing Post-9/11 Security: The Experiences of Muslim Women in Canada and the West,' Canadian Security into the 21st Century: (Re)articulations in the Post-9/11 World (Laurentian University, Sudbury, March 6).
(2007) 'Beyond the Ethnonational Divide: Identity Politics and Women in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine,' Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference (University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, May 31).
Other presentations
(2015) Discussant, The Anniversary of the Maidan Revolution Symposium,Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, March 9.
(2014) Guest on television news program Alberta Primetime. I discussed the ongoing military crisis in Israel and Gaza, CTV News, July 23.
(2013) Discussant/chair, Trafficking of Women in Ukraine: Governmental and Nongovernmental Responses, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, March 22.
Professional and administrative service
Director Certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies
July 2010–present (excluding maternity leaves)
SSHRC IDG Adjudication Committee SSHRC, Ottawa video conference
May 6–8, 2015
Speaker Series Coordinator Department of Political Science
July 2013–July 2014; January 2015–July 2015
SSHRC IDG Peer Reviewer Faculty of Arts
December 2014. I participated in our own peer review process, providing detailed comments on SSHRC applications for two colleagues in the Faculty.
Director, Board of Directors Canadian Political Science Association
June 2010–June 2013
CPSA Conference Steering Committee Department of Political Science
July 2010–September 2011
Graduate Committee Department of Political Science
July 2009–July 2010; July 2010–July 2011; January 2013–July 2013
Awards Adjudicator Faculty of Arts
April 2010; March 2011
Peer reviewer
I have served as an external peer reviewer for the SSHRC Insight grant competition and for journals such as Canadian Journal of Political Science, Canadian Foreign Policy, International Peacekeeping, Studies in Political Economy, and Citizenship Studies.
Other relevant experience
Queen’s University 2006/01–2007/01
Chair, Political Studies Graduate Student Association (PSGSA)
Queen's University 2006/05–2006/12
Research Assistant– Dr. John McGarry, Ethnicity and Democratic Governance Project (EDG)
Queen's University 2005/09–2006/05
Research Assistant–Dr. Will Kymlicka, Department of Philosophy
Queen's University 2006/01–2006/05; 2003/09–2004/05; 2001/09–2002/05
Teaching Assistant–Department of Political Studies
“Introduction to International Relations and International Political Economy.”
Frontier College, Kingston, ON, Canada 2003–2004
Tutor–Prison Literacy Program for Women
Bonn International Center for Conversion, Bonn, Germany 2002/09–2003/05
Project Officer–Small Arms and Light Weight Weapons Project
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