Dr Kelsey Shanks
Education
Kelsey Shanks is a Senior Lecturer at Ulster University’s UNESCO Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Children and Youth. Her research agenda focuses on the relationship between education and conflict in divided societies, with exploration of education’s links to post-conflict stabilisation and peacebuilding agendas. She has conducted extensive research in Iraq, along with work in Syria, Somalia and Ukraine.
Kelsey has led commissioned research projects for a range of international actors, including OHCHR, UNAMI, UNICEF, ECCN and GIZ. She has a demonstrated record of external engagement, having provided guidance and briefings on education, peace and conflict to UN agencies, government bodies and various INGOs, most recently speaking at the Education Cannot Wait Education Forum on Syria and the UNICEF MENA education forum.
Kelsey has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Exeter. Her subsequent academic career has been research focused, with fellowships at the University of York Postwar Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) and the University of Exeter Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (IAIS). Kelsey is the author of Education and Ethno-Politics; Defending identity in Iraq (Routledge, 2015) and various book chapters and articles.
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