Anne Kreft

Anne wearin glasses and a black shirt

What led you to Political Science?

I first attended Western in 05/06 as an exchange student from Germany. Although I was a British and American Studies major at home, I soon took - and very much enjoyed - classes in International Relations and Comparative Politics. When I was encouraged to return for the Political Science Master's Program, I didn't have to think twice about applying.

What did you enjoy most about Western?

Anne walking down a path looking over her shoulder

Among the things I appreciated most about the Political Science department at Western were the diversity of faculty research interests and the support provided to motivated students. During my master's program I engaged in depth with issues of German foreign policy, violent ethnic conflict and nationalism in Scotland and Quebec (the Canadian Studies program and its related facilities are excellent!). It was a graduate seminar in civil conflict taught by Professor Biswas and working with my wonderful thesis committee (Amir Abedi, Bidisha Biswas and Vernon Johnson) that sparked my academic interest in the study of conflict.

What are your future plans?

In the Fall of 2013 I will be starting a PhD program in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, with a focus on civil and ethnic conflict. My work experience includes internships and short-term assignments in technical development cooperation (Zambia), financial development cooperation (Germany), the German Foreign Office and the NGO/UN environment (U.S.). One day I hope to bridge academia and produce policy-relevant research in the area of conflict resolution.

Update (April 2020)

Anne earned her PhD at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) in 2019. Her dissertation, “Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict:  Threat, Mobilization and Gender Norms”, received the 2020 Christiane-Rajewsky-Award of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies and led to four publications in academic journals that included:  Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, International Affairs, and International Peacekeeping.  Another article appeared in Comparative Political Studies.  

Anne is currently a post-doctoral fellow with the Political Science department at the University of Gothenburg, where she is working on a three-year project “Backlash against Women as civil society actors in post-conflict situations” that is financed by the Swedish Science Council (Vetenskapsradet).

 

Update (December 2023)

Anne is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo in Norway (see attached co-authored article recently published below). After the end of her Fellowship, she will start working at the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (Germany) in Hannover, where she will be co-directing the Victimology research unit.