Élise Féron joins Ulster University from the Tampere Peace Research Institute at Tampere University (Finland), where she is currently a Docent and a Senior Research Fellow. She is also an invited professor at the University of Turin (Italy), the Diplomatic School of Yerevan (Armenia), Sciences Po Lille (France), and the University of Coimbra (Portugal). Before moving to Finland, she held permanent positions at the University of Kent (UK) and Sciences Po Lille (France).
Élise has an extensive track record of research and publications spanning three decades and has been successful in attracting external grants from over 25 international projects during her career to date. She currently leads the Re-(E)MBody project (Embodied Reconciliation: Rethinking Post-Conflict Reconciliation through Missing Bodies), funded by the Research Council of Finland (2024-2028), and is one of the leaders of the COST Action Peace Research Community Europe (2024-2028).
Élise’s main research interests include feminist peace research, diaspora politics, the multiple entanglements between conflict, violence, and peace, as well as the aftermath of wars, including the long-term consequences of disappearances. She has three decades of experience researching these issues in the South Caucasus, Eastern Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Madagascar, and Cyprus, among other places. She is one of the editors-in-chief of the Journal of Disappearance Studies (Bristol University Press) and one of the editors of the book series, Routledge Advances in Feminist Peace Research.
Speaking about her new role, Élise Féron said:
“I am absolutely delighted to be joining Ulster University as Professor and Director of INCORE. Ulster University has an outstanding international reputation, and champions many values that are important to me, such as equality, diversity, and inclusion. INCORE is equally impressive, as it has played a major role in the field of peace and conflict research since its creation. INCORE’s cutting-edge and applied research on post-conflict memory and transitional justice, as well as on sustainable, co-created, and embedded approaches to peace, has been a source of inspiration and hope for both researchers and practitioners. I very much look forward to working with colleagues and local, national, and international partners to further advance INCORE’s visibility and impact on policy and practice.”
Professor Paul Connolly, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, commented:
“We are very much looking forward to welcoming Élise as the new Director of INCORE when she takes up the post in August. Élise was appointed following an extensive international recruitment process, that attracted considerable interest. The fact that we have attracted such a strong and internationally-renowned scholar is testament to the global reputation that INCORE, and the wider university, has in the field of peace and conflict research. We have considerable plans to develop and grow INCORE over the coming years, that will not only contribute significantly to the development and growth of Derry~Londonderry and the north-west, but also globally. We are very much looking forward to working with and supporting her in her new role.”
