Profile

My first name is pronounced Dah-En. I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics and International Studies. I have previously received an MSc in Comparative Politics and a BSc in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Before joining Warwick, I worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Policy Centre and an international parliamentary advocacy network. I also have years of teaching experience. I am currently working as a Research Assistant for the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID).

Research

The working title of my doctoral thesis is The Legitimacy Gap and Regional Arrangements in UN Peacekeeping Operations. My research aims to understand how the institutional peacekeeping partnership between the UN and a regional organisation operates as a legitimation strategy. Based on this objective, I will examine the case of partnership between the UN and the African Union (AU) in peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in Sudan and South Sudan. In doing so, I ask the following two research questions: 1) How does the UN seek to legitimate PKOs through its partnership with the AU?; and 2) To what extent do these legitimation strategies get recognised and validated by PKOs’ local audience?

My PhD project is co-supervised by Dr Jessica Di Salvatore and Dr Briony Jones. Professor Michael Saward is currently a temporary second supervisor for this project.

More broadly, areas of my research interest include:

• UN peacekeeping/peacebuilding
• Legitimacy and legitimation
• Global-regional partnership
• Civil conflict resolution
• Conflict and peace in Africa

Teaching

In 2021/22 academic year, I taught three seminar groups for PO131: World Politics.

In 2022/23 academic year, I am teaching four seminar groups for PO131: World Politics.

Conference Presentations

• Legitimacy Crisis and the UN-AU Partnership in Contemporary Peacekeeping Operations. BISA Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Working Group Conference, Open University, February 2023
• Sharing the Responsibility to Protect: Peacekeeping Partnership as the UN's Legitimation Strategy. BISA Intervention and Responsibility to Protect (IR2P) Working Group Annual Conference, University of Leeds, November 2022
• Legitimacy in Practice. (co-presented with Evelyn Strongylakou) PAIS Research Conference, University of Warwick, June 2022

Other Activities

• Research Assistant for the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID)

• Co-Chair of the 2022-23 Critical International and Political Studies (CRIPS) graduate working group

• Co-Representative of PAIS Graduate Teaching Assistants