Boukje Kistemaker joined the Centre for Science & Security Studies in July 2024 as Research Project Coordinator (maternity leave cover); and she is a part-time PhD Student at the King’s Wargaming Network.

Since her graduation from the MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from the Centre for Conflict Studies at Utrecht University in 2012, she has gained over a decade of professional experience as a situational analyst, strategic advisor, foresight and crisis management specialist. Informing her research interests, she has gained extensive experience in organisational learning, innovation and transformation in fragile- and conflict affected settings as well as at international headquarters.

Among others, she has worked for iNGOs like the Assessment Capacities Project and Bibliothèques Sans Frontières; the European Union Institute for Security Studies, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affair’s Security, Crisis Management and Integrity Department Diplomatic Security and Crisis Management department; Janes’ Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC); and the UN Operations and Crisis Centre (UNOCC – Executive Office of the Secretary-General), UN Office for Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), and the World Health Organisation’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO-WPRO).

Research

• Experiential learning
• Organisational learning
• Simulation- and game-based education
• Crisis management
• Strategic foresight
• (Counter-)Terrorism

Boukje has led research on conflict and complex emergencies globally in support of planning, strategic decision-making and emergency funding.

Her PhD research focuses on organisational learning in the context of wargaming, more specifically, in studying reciprocal dynamics between organisational antecedents and wargaming processes.

Publications

Book chapters

• Duijvestein, I., G. Frerks, B. Kistemaker, N. Stel and N. Terpstra (2015). ‘Reconsidering Rebel Governance’, in African Frontiers: Insurgency, Governance and Peacebuilding. City: Country: Ashgate.

Research articles

• Martin, A., B. Allen, B. Kistemaker & B. Jones (forthcoming). ‘Combining Predictive Analytics and Foresight Techniques to Anticipate Climate Mobility in Pakistan and Viet Nam: A Scenarios Approach’, in Data & Policy.
• Dhar, V. et.al. (2023). ‘Who's cooking our futures? Reframing development policy and programming through imagination’, in Journal of Futures Studies.
• Kistemaker, B. (2013). ‘The Role of Libraries in Emergency Situations: case-study Haiti’. Institute of Developing Economies, Japanese External Trade Organisation.

Policy papers

• Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation (January 2015). ‘Mutual Reinforcement of Activities by ZOA/DCR in South Sudan’, in Addressing Complex Realities and Searching for Synergy: Complementary Evaluation Studies on the Strategic Pillars of the Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation Programme.
• Gaub, F. and Kistemaker, B. (2013). Palestinians as ‘strategic refugees’. EUISS.
• Gaub, F. and Kistemaker, B. (2013). All quiet on the Bahraini front? EUISS.
• UNDP (July 2022). RBAP Foresight Playbook.
• UNDP (October 2022). What if early warning systems are held back by the affordability of early action?
• UNDP (December 2022). Anticipating Risks and Uncertainties in Asia and the Pacific: A Hybrid Horizon Scanning Report.

Freelance

Janes’ Terrorism Insurgency Monitor (2020–2021)

• Burkina Faso arms civilian volunteers in the fight against Islamist extremism (with Jessica Moody, 25 February 2020)
• COVID-19: Explosives attack on COVID-19 response meeting highlights threat of sustained insurgency campaign in Thailand (20 March 2020)
• COVID-19: Ansar Allah actions underplay high-risk impact of coronavirus in Yemen (25 March 2020)
• Attack on major town in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado signals escalation of local Islamic State insurgency (26 March 2020)
• Escalation of military operations raises risk of retaliatory ASG attacks against civilian population in southern Philippines (21 April 2020)
• COVID-19: Infection impacts Hizbullah’s domestic reputation and regional operations (with Mitch Prothero, 28 April 2020)
• Islamic State call to arms in South Asia indicates desire to expand regional presence (with Alexander Theodosiou, Gabriela Serrano, Heather Nicell and Olivia Harper, 4 May 2020)
• Resilient Sinai insurgency and worsening socio-economic conditions likely to result in deteriorating security in Egypt (27 May 2020)
• Risk of Sahel insecurity spillover into Gulf of Guinea highlighted by deadly attack in Cote d’Ivoire (15 June 2020)
• Security situation escalates at hands of newly-emerged Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement (CPC) amid elections in Central African Republic (15 January 2021)
• Palm Sunday attack highlights sustained risk of militant Islamist attacks during Christian holidays in Indonesia (30 March 2021)
• Gold rush? Risk of resource-driven insurgency increases in western Mali (14 April 2021)