Jasmine Westendorf

Jasmine Westendorf is an Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict in the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. She is Co-Director of the Initiative for Peacebuilding and an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow. Her research focuses on peace and humanitarian processes, particularly how the international community supports societies in responding to conflict and crisis. She investigates the negotiation of power during peace and crisis processes, the role of non-state actors and women in these processes, and how international actors’ assumptions and behaviours affect their capacity and credibility in countries where they operate. Westendorf has conducted extensive field research in locations including Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Nepal, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Sicily, Palestine, and Cyprus.

Westendorf leads the ARC-funded project 'Do No Harm: Addressing sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping and humanitarian response,' which examines the nature, scale, and impacts of sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as the challenges to effective prevention and accountability efforts. Her prior research has addressed challenges to effective international involvement and inclusivity in peace processes. She is the author of Violating Peace: Sex, Aid and Peacekeeping (Cornell University Press, 2020) and Why Peace Processes Fail: Negotiating Insecurity after Civil War (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2015). She co-edited Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peacekeeping and Aid: Critiquing the Past, Plotting the Future (Bristol University Press, 2024). Her peer-reviewed articles include 'Sexual exploitation and abuse in peace operations: trends, policy responses and future directions' (International Affairs, 2017), ''Add women and stir': The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands and Australia's implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325' (Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2013), 'Peace negotiations in the political marketplace: the implications of women's exclusion in the Sudan-South Sudan peace process' (Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2018), 'A problem of rules: sexual exploitation and UN legitimacy' (International Studies Quarterly, 2023), and 'Challenges of local ownership: Understanding the outcomes of the international community’s ‘light footprint’ approach to the Nepal peace process' (Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 2018). She has published in additional outlets such as Global Studies Quarterly, Peacebuilding, and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Westendorf has worked with and advised the United Nations and other international organisations on issues related to peace processes and sexual exploitation and abuse.

Professional Email: jasmine.westendorf@unimelb.edu.au