Sarah Edgcumbe
Sarah Edgcumbe
QUALIFICATIONS
2025 Ph.D., International Relations, University of St Andrews
2019 MA., Conflict Studies and Human Rights, Utrecht University
2019 MA., Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies, Refugee Law Initiative,
School of Advanced Study, University of London.
PRINCIPAL RESEARCH INTERESTS
War, displacement and minorities; stigma; humanitarian aid; peacebuilding and power; everyday resistance; identity; the everyday dynamics of power, citizenship, peace, erasure, and agency.
RESEARCH PROFILE
My doctoral research explored Roma and Gypsy experiences of conflict and (neo)liberal peace in Kosovo and Iraq, comparing these experiences to everyday conceptualisations of peace imagined by those communities. Prior to this, I worked on research which focused on displacement and humanitarian provision in Iraq and Syria, as well as conceptualisation of patriarchy, power, and resistance among rural women in Afghanistan.
I am currently working with Dr Martin Fotta on the ‘Romani Family in the Age of War’ project, investigating how kinship relations are formed, maintained, and mobilised during wars. My geographic focus is the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon).
Edited Volumes and Special Issues
Under contract: Iraqi Minorities and Social Movements: Erasures, Fragmentation, and Discrimination, Routledge Advances in Minority Studies, Routledge, (co-editor Dr Jeffrey Murer).
Journal Articles
2024 ‘Reconceptualising Peace, Resisting Stigma: The Case of Hosta in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’, Kurdish Studies Journal, 2(2), pp182-209.
2021 ‘Rural Women in the Balkh and Herat Provinces of Afghanistan: Simultaneous Resistance to, and Reproduction of, Patriarchal Power Structures’, Journal of Resistance Studies, 7(1), pp10-45.
Book Chapters
2024 Humanitarian Protection and the Politics of Labelling: The Case of Displaced Iraqi and Syrian Roma, Ch. 8 in Blasco. P, Sarafian. I, and Roman. R. (eds), Gender and Violence in Romani and Traveller Lives: Methods, Ethics, and Dilemmas, Routledge.
Ongoing Projects and Grants
2026 Romani Family in an Age of War. ERC 2024 Action grant, Horizon Europe, European Commission 101170655; 09/01/2025 – 08/31/2030
Research Associate.
Teaching Experience
2025 Undergraduate Tutor. School of International Relations, University of St Andrews.
Invited Talks, Public Lectures or Roundtables
2025 April. ‘Everyday Resistance Practices Among Iraqi Gypsies.’ Teach-In on Roma Rights. University of St Andrews.
2024 November. ‘Liberal Peacebuilding as Violence Against Roma and Travellers.’ Workshop - Department of Mobility and Migration, Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences.
September. ‘The Others: Marginalised Identities and Structural Violence During War and Beyond.’ Online Guest Lecture – International Relations Department, University of the Sacred Heart, Puerto Rico.
March. ‘“Everything is OK Until They Find Out We Are Gypsies”: Displacement and Stigmatisation of Dom and Gypsies in Lebanon and Iraq.’ Online Guest Lecture – ‘Refuge, Overlooked’ lecture series, Institute of Migration Studies, Lebanese American University. (Co-speaker: Asli Saban).
2023 February. ‘Marginalisation, Structural Violence, and Peace.’ Guest Lecture – Department of Human Rights and Peacebuilding, University of Dohuk.
Conference and Workshop Organisation
2024 April. ‘Erasures in Iraq.’ Online workshop co-hosted by the Centre for Minorities Research and the Institute for Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Studies, University of St Andrews.
2021 March. ‘Peacebuilding Interventions: A Tool for Dismantling or Reinforcing Marginalisation?’, Online PhD workshop, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of St Andrews (co-organised with Ruoxi Wang).
Public Outreach
2025 ‘Conflict, Climate Change, and Exclusion: Iraqi Gypsy and Bedouin Returnees.’ Short piece, Researching Internal Displacement.
2024 ‘Education and Employment: Critical for Securing Peace for Gypsies in Iraq.’ Policy Paper, 6(2), Middle East Research Institute.
2023 ‘Mosul’s Gypsy Community Remains Unassisted Despite Protection Needs.’ Blog, Refugee Law Initiative. (with Su’ad Ismaeel and Sangar Khaleel).
2021 ‘Roma in Iraq and Syria: On the Margins of IDP Protection.’ Working Paper No.9, Researching Internal Displacement.
Consultancy and Expert Advice
2025 Consultant for Yazda. Worked with survivors of ISIS to produce a module on minority rights and hate speech tailored towards Iraqi survivors and minorities.
2024 External consultant (STOOS Consulting). Produced a migration situation analysis of Iraq for Terre des hommes.
2023 External consultant (STOOS Consulting). Evaluation of an Education programme designed for out-of-school children implemented by north-east Syria by Save the Children International.
2023 Knowledge Management Consultant / Writer for Plan International. Focusing on the organisation’s gender-transformative Education in Emergency (EiE) programme in north-east Nigeria.
2022 Project Manager and Lead Researcher (Samuel Hall). Produced a report for IOM Afghanistan which explored mental health and related issues among displaced Afghans.
