Simons Chair in Peace, Disarmament and Human Security at the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University

The Simons Chair in Peace, Disarmament and Human Security at Simon Fraser University's School for International Studies (formerly the Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security), endowed by The Simons Foundation Canada, focuses on research and teaching through the promotion of, and the relationships between, disarmament, demilitarization, peace, human rights and human security. The chairholder holds a mandate to design curriculum, provide intellectual leadership, and foster public understanding through conferences and symposia.

Since 2020, Dr. Megan MacKenzie has held the Simons Chair in Peace, Disarmament and Human Security, where she supports students and early-career scholars on various topics, including gender and war, military culture, international security, disarmament and demilitarization, and post-conflict recovery and reconstruction.

Dr. Megan Mackenzie is Professor and Simons Chair in Peace, Disarmament and Human Security at the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University.  She is a feminist scholar interested in war, security studies, post-conflict recovery and reconstruction, and military culture. Recently, Dr. Mackenzie has been working on military culture and gender integration which includes projects on military sexual violence, the integration of women into combat roles, and military suicide. On this subject, She authored Good Soldiers Don’t Rape:  The Stories We Tell About Military Sexual Violence (2023) and Beyond the Band of Brothers: the US Military and the Myth that Women Can’t Fight (2015). Dr. Mackenzie has also worked on issues related to post-conflict transitions and feminist solutions to ending war. This work includes projects on disarmament programs, amnesty provisions in peace agreements, truth and reconciliation commissions, and an edited book Feminist Solutions to Ending War (2021, with Nicole Wegner). On the subject, she also authored Female Soldiers in Sierra Leone: Sex, Security, and Post-Conflict Development (2012).

For more information on the activities of the SFU Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security please contact Professor Megan Mackenzie, Ph.D.