Turning data into pathways for gender justice
Publications & Writing
My writing spans peer-reviewed research, practitioner publications, and public journalism — all grounded in the same commitment to rigorous, contextually sensitive, and accessible knowledge on gender, protection, and social change.
FEATURED
These women are bringing some peace to war-stricken Congo | National Geographic |2022
Winner — Fetisov Global Journalism Award 2024, 'Outstanding Contribution to Peace'
Congolese women have long been the backbone of community protection in eastern DRC — yet remain almost entirely absent from formal peace processes. This piece documents their work on the ground in North and South Kivu. With Sifa Bahati and photographs by Hugh Kinsella Cunningham.
FEATURED
Changing Men in Conflict-Affected Settings: Masculinity, Everyday Suffering, and Intersectionality in the Democratic Republic of Congo | Journal of Gender Studies, 34(2) · 2025
Framing men solely as perpetrators actively undermines GBV prevention. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Goma, this paper argues for a more intersectional approach — one that takes men's own experiences of violence seriously without diminishing women's.
Other publications
2025
Rupture and the Rehearsal of New Worlds · Development in Practice · Academic · How collective rehearsal of new behaviours — not just new knowledge — drives transformation in GBV prevention groups in DRC.
2025
Are men the key to advancing Women, Peace and Security? · ALIGN Blog · Practitioner · Unpacking norms of masculinity to support feminist peace.
2024
Pathways of Transformation: Gender, Violence, and Complex Social Change in the Democratic Republic of Congo · PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh · Academic · Eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork tracing how Congolese men and women engage with — and resist — gender-transformative programming.
2023
Fields of Exclusion: Masculinity and Mental Health in the DRC · Alternatives Humanitaires · Practitioner · Why men in DRC are systematically excluded from mental health care.
2022
Women's Agency and Humanitarian Protection in North and South Kivu · IDS · Practitioner · How women's groups shape protection discourses and expand collective agency in conflict-affected contexts.
2022
Critical Perspectives on Child Protection in the DRC · Alternatives Humanitaires · Practitioner · Challenging the passive "vulnerable child" framing — and why children's agency matters.
2021
Co-producing Transdisciplinary Knowledge · Humanitarian Alternatives · Practitioner Why research-practitioner partnerships in the DRC fall short, and how to do better.