Dr Helen Berents

Senior Research Fellow

Doctor of Philosophy (International Relations) (University of Queensland)

Helen is now an Adjunct Professor with the School of Justice, having left QUT in 2022.

She was an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (Senior Research Fellow) and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Justice; and a Chief Investigator with the QUT Centre for Justice and an Affiliated Investigator with the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC).

Helen is a feminist scholar centrally concerned with both representations of young people in contexts of crises and conflict, and with engagements with the lived experience of violence-affected young people. Her research is interested in the interconnected areas of the presence and roles of young people in global politics; everyday experiences of conflict and peacebuilding; and local-global relations in peace and security governance, which are underpinned by strong methodological expertise in qualitative research with marginalised communities and in insecure environments. Helen's work sits in international relations, particularly peace studies and critical security studies but is interdisciplinary in drawing from anthropology, feminist theory and sociology. Her work is motivated by a genuine belief in the importance of recognising the contributions and capacities of children and youth in navigating violence and building peace.

Helen's current Australian Research Council DECRA project, Youth Leadership and the Future of Peace and Security, examines youth advocacy and leadership in the context of the emergent global Youth, Peace and Security Agenda. Her broader research is centrally concerned with both representations of young people in contexts of crises and conflict, and with engagements with the lived experience of violence-affected young people. She has also developed research projects on the role of popular culture and social media in the representation and mediation of understandings of political crises and conflicts. Helen's work has been published in journals including International Political Sociology, International Feminist Journal of Politics, International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, and Critical Studies on Security. Her book, Young People and Everyday Peace: Exclusion, Insecurity and Peacebuilding in Colombia was published in 2018.

Helen has a PhD (International Relations), a BA (Honours, first class) and a BA (Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies) from the University of Queensland. Helen also has a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (QUT, 2016), and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Research Interests:

• youth, peace and security
• youth political engagement
• peace and conflict studies
• feminist peace studies
• critical security studies
• Latin America, with focus on Colombia
• research ethics

Additional information