Sukanya Podder is a Reader in Post-War Reconstruction and Peacebuilding. She 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, Post-conflict Peacekeeping, civilian protection, 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, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian MoD with a focus on civilian protection issues. The findings have been published in International Peacekeeping and Civil Wars.

Her monograph on 'Peacebuilding Legacies Young People's Attitudes to Peace' came out with Oxford University Press in 2022. This research was funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust and involved primary research in Sierra Leone and North Macedonia. This project examines the long-term effects of peacebuilding programmes with children and youth over 15+ years. A related research on land grabs in Sierra Leone has been published in the Journal of Modern African Studies.

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

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.

Recently completed

• Prosper Addo
• Selcuk Aydin
• Raul Z Gil

Publications

• Dr Sukanya Podder PURE Profile
• Dr Sukanya Podder Google Scholar Profile