Visiting Fellows

Phoebe Donnelly

Phoebe DonnellyVisiting Fellow

Working with Feinstein Since: 2013
Based in: Williamstown, MA
Phoebe Donnelly is the Stanley Kaplan Postdoctoral Fellow at Williams College, where she teaches on gender and conflict and security in Africa. She received her PhD in international relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 2019. Phoebe’s dissertation examines forced marriage as a strategy of rebel groups and her case studies are al-Shabaab (in Somalia and Kenya) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (in Uganda).
Before starting her PhD program, Phoebe was the associate director of the Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights at UMass-Boston. She also has policy experience through her work as a legislative correspondent for Senator Richard Blumenthal and as an intern for the State Department at the U.S. Mission to the UN.
Women in International Security (WIIS) selected Phoebe as one of their “Next Generation Gender Scholars.”
Phoebe holds a PhD in international relations and MA in law in diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BA from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

News Items

Phoebe Donnelly discusses al-Shabaab on BBC interview
December 31, 2019

On December 29, 2019 BBC’s Dotun Adebayo interviewed Phoebe Donnelly about al-Shabaab’s activities in Somalia. Phoebe highlighted her research on the way al-Shabaab uses relationships, specifically forced marriage, to strengthen…

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Phoebe Donnelly published an article on gender and strategy in Global Society
July 2, 2018

On June 27, 2018 Phoebe Donnelly published The Interactive Relationship between Gender and Strategy in the Global Society journal. The article argues that gender affects the strategy of non-state armed…

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Feinstein Research Projects

Gender, Sex, Age, and Disability in Humanitarian Response
By Dyan Mazurana, Daniel Maxwell, Phoebe Donnelly, Anastasia Marshak, Kinsey Spears | March 2023

This page brings together multiple projects related to gender, sex, and age in humanitarian response.

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Sexual Assault and Humanitarian Workers Project
By Dyan Mazurana, Phoebe Donnelly | May 2017

This study examines the issue of sexual assault against humanitarian and development aid workers.

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Feinstein Publications

Blue on Blue: Investigating Sexual Abuse of Peacekeepers
Cover of Blue on Blue Report
By Phoebe Donnelly, Dyan Mazurana, Evyn Papworth | April 2022

This report reveals that sexual abuse is a major threat to uniformed peacekeepers, especially women. The UN and troop- and police-contributing countries have not adequately responded to the issue.

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STOP the Sexual Assault Against Humanitarian and Development Aid Workers
Sexual Assault Against Aid Workers
By Dyan Mazurana, Phoebe Donnelly | May 2017

This report contributes to understanding, preventing, and responding to sexual assault against aid workers. It presents findings on: who the survivors of sexual harassment and assault are who the perpetrators…

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