Dr. Yolande Bouka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner with deep theoretical and methodological roots in critical international relations. Her research and teaching focus on gender, violence, decoloniality, race and international relations, and African affairs. 

The key questions driving her multidisciplinary research agenda is how vulnerable groups understand and navigate structural and political violence and how these experiences influence the post-conflict social and political landscapes. Her research has received support from the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  

In addition to her academic work, she has extensive experience with development and security research agencies. She has worked with and offered support to USAID, the UK Department for International Development, the United Nations, the African Union, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the United States Institute of Peace. Between 2014 and 2016 she was a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in the Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division.