Leslie Woolcott

PhD Candidate, International Conflict Management and Resolution

• BA (Carleton University) BEd (University of Toronto), BA Hons, MA Canadian Studies (Trent University), MPA (Queen’s University)

Leslie is a doctoral student at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, specializing in international conflict management and resolution. Her research interests centre on education and conflict, the evolving role of international norms, local-global linkages, localized peace actors and negotiations, and the contributions of women and children to securing and sustaining peace. Committed to action-oriented scholarship, she seeks to produce research that engages communities, informs policy, and generates tangible benefits for affected societies. With a strong background in qualitative methods, she is actively deepening her expertise in quantitative approaches during her doctoral studies.

Motivated by the role education plays in intergroup relations within conflict-affected contexts, Leslie’s dissertation examines the weaponization of schools as social institutions. Adopting a constructivist lens, she investigates processes of norm internalization, the influence of socializing agents, and actors’ ideational commitments to explain variation in school attacks in conflicts where identity is a salient factor.

This research reflects Leslie’s longstanding professional, academic, and community engagement in advancing social justice, human rights, equity, and local-global action. Through public policy, education, interdisciplinary scholarship, and collaboration with community and international institutions, she aims to bridge the domains of policy, research, and practice. Her goal is to understand and strengthen education’s capacity to secure, build, and sustain peace. She is particularly focused on developing the skills and networks necessary to contribute effectively to multi-institutional, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research teams working across local and global contexts.