Heather Johnson

Dr Heather Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast's School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, with an affiliation to the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Her research focuses on irregular migration, border security, non-citizenship, and the intersection of visual representation with refugee studies. She leads projects such as the ESRC-funded 'Boats, Borders and Asylum' examining maritime migration.

Research Interests:

• Irregular migration and asylum seeker policies
• Border security technologies and ethics
• Activism and protest among non-citizens
• Critical security theories
• Gendered narratives in refugee representation

Recent Articles: Her work explores themes like the dissonances of teaching IR in conflict zones (2024), migrant storytelling ethics (2023), and border technology ethics (2020). The 2019 article Lost in the Aftermath analyzes security dialogue frameworks.

Awards:

• 2016 Distinguished Book Award (Honourable Mention)
• 2006 Canadian Graduate Scholarship
• 2008 Doctoral Fellowship
• 2009 Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Advising & Grants: Supervised PhDs on topics like piratical threat mitigation (Gulf of Aden), migrant activism in Ireland, and counter-radicalization strategies. Active in research projects funded by ESRC and international partnerships. Serves on advisory boards like The Migrant Centre.

Labs/Initiatives: Engaged with the Mitchell Institute's global peace initiatives and collaborative projects on security technology governance.