Biography
Catherine's PhD focuses on the everyday experience of UN staff in the peace operation in Haiti, to understand how practitioners approach the UN peace operation's mandate and its implementation. Using field-based qualitative research in Haiti to gather data, the PhD examines how practice on the ground informs scholarship relating to the UN and its peace operations. Underpinning the research is the idea that insights from field-based practice can advance theoretical and interpretive approaches around international law and the UN.
With a mixed background in social science research and international law, Catherine has a long-standing interest in bridging scholarly analysis and practice through interdisciplinary methods. Previous work includes co-directing a research unit in the School of Law at the University of Essex, which provided legal and policy analysis serving UN experts, diplomats and NGOs. Catherine holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Essex, including a semester at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
She speaks several languages including German, French and Brazilian Portuguese, and is currently learning Haitian Creole.
