Dr. Sandra Biskupski-Mujanovic is a SSHRC Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) postdoctoral fellow in the University of Waterloo Political Science Department. Building on her doctoral work, Dr. Biskupski-Mujanovic’s research investigates men’s commitment to achieving greater gender equality in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Her areas of research and teaching specialization include gender, conflict, and security; militarization and peacekeeping; feminist international relations and feminist security studies; gender and work; social, political, and economic gender inequality.
Dr. Biskupski-Mujanovic holds a PhD in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies with a specialization in Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction from Western University. Her dissertation research, “Women in the Canadian Armed Forces: At Home and Abroad” examined opportunities and constraints for Canadian women’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. Her findings point broadly to the importance of not relying on operational effectiveness arguments for improving the representation of women in militarized institutions as women increased representation does not necessarily improve deeply masculinist and hierarchical institutions.
Dr. Biskupski-Mujanovic was previously the postdoctoral fellow and network coordinator at the Transforming Military Cultures (TMC) Network. The TMC Network aims to determine the root causes of the problematic military culture and provide insights to help transform CAF culture into one that embraces inclusivity and difference. She also has several years of experience as a practitioner in the violence against women sector at her local women’s shelter and counselling/advocacy organization.