Sukanya Podder is a Reader in Post-War Reconstruction & Peacebuilding. She has over 16 years of experience in the field and in academia. Podder specializes in research and consultancy across various humanitarian and conflict-affected settings. Her research focuses on conflict actors and conflict-affected populations including rebel groups, child soldiers, military peacekeepers, ex-combatants, and stateless populations. She has raised funding and conducted multi-country research projects, and developed courses on International Interventions for Peace and Statebuilding, civilian protection, post-conflict peacekeeping, ex-combatant reintegration, security sector reform and defence engagement.

Her consultancy work for INGOs and the UN has been in the area of security sector reform and youth reintegration in Liberia, Iraq and Nepal. She has conducted capacity-building training for military partners on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence in Namibia, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Bahrain, Malawi, and Egypt.

Her research on rebel groups, recruitment and reintegration of combatants and rebel governance and legitimacy has been funded by the OECD INCAF. It has been published in International Peacekeeping, Civil Wars, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Third World Quarterly, Peacebuilding, Contemporary Security Policy, Conflict, Security and Development, Perspectives on Terrorism, and Small Wars and Insurgencies.

Her research on the peacekeeping experiences of UK and international military peacekeepers has received funding from KCL, NATO SPS, ESRC, IRC,  Norwegian Ministry of Defence, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a focus on civilian protection issues. The findings have been published in International Peacekeeping and Civil Wars.

Her monograph on 'Peacebuilding Legacy: Programming for Change and Young People's Attitudes to Peace' was published with Oxford University Press in September 2022. This research was funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. This project using longitudinal monitoring and evaluation data from Sierra Leone and North Macedonia examines the long-term effects of peacebuilding programmes with children and youth, and a related research on land grabs in Sierra Leone was published in the Journal of Modern African Studies.

Specialties: Post Conflict Reconstruction; Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-combatants, Security Sector Reform; Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding; Statebuilding; Youth, Conflict & Peace; Liberia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Indonesia, North Macedonia, and Mindanao, Philippines, India.

Google Scholar page

Research Interests

• Post-conflict reconstruction
• Security sector reform
• DDR
• Peacebuilding legacies
• Indigenous monitoring and evaluation tools
• Youth, peace and security
• Rebel recruitment and civil wars
• Child solders and ex-combatant reintegration

Doctoral Supervision

Currently accepting PhD students in two areas:

• Youth, peace and security and youth-led peacebuilding. Country focus: Liberia, Sierra Leone; Jordan; Lebanon; Mindanao, Philippines.
• Rebel legitimacy and rebel governance. Country focus: South Sudan, Syria, Iraq, and Mindanao, Philippines.