معرفی
Marije Luitjens is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her academic work focuses on peacebuilding, resilience, and conflict resolution, with particular attention to local contexts and trans-scalar approaches.
Dr. Luitjens holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from Dublin City University (awarded March 31, 2023) for her dissertation "Introducing the Resilient Peace System: New Potentials for Peace in Kosovo and Medellín." She also earned a Master's degree in Anthropology from Utrecht University (awarded June 1, 2015) with research on "The Power of Community-Resilience: Potential abilities to create stable and non-violent neighbourhoods in Tegucigalpa, Honduras."
Her research interests span peacebuilding, resilience, local peace processes, trans-scalar peace approaches, ethnography in conflict zones, and gang violence. She employs ethnographic methods to understand how communities build resilience and peace from the ground up, with fieldwork in Kosovo, Medellín, and Honduras. Her research fingerprint shows strong connections to Kosovo (71%), Serb studies, memorialization practices, and marching rituals as forms of resistance.
Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on memorialization practices, community resilience, and innovative peace systems. She examines how communities memorialize conflict through practices like marching, how resilience functions at multiple scales, and how local peace initiatives interact with formal peace processes. Her work bridges academic research with practical peacebuilding applications through ethnographic approaches.
Dr. Luitjens has received notable recognition for her work:
- Andrew Grene Postgraduate Scholarship in Conflict Resolution (2019)
- Irish Research Council: Andrew Grene Conflict Resolution Postgraduate Scholarship (2019)
- Seed funding for ReSCU lab (2024)
She actively contributes to academic discourse through teaching courses including "Peace and Conflict: From Theory to Practice" and "Writing a Scientific Paper." Her grant activities focus on conflict resolution systems analysis and supporting research infrastructure through the ReSCU lab. She has organized significant events including "The Peace Game" conference and seminars on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Dr. Luitjens maintains active research networks focused on peace and conflict studies, particularly with connections to Kosovo, Colombia, and the Balkans. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to peace, justice, and strong institutions, demonstrating commitment to understanding how communities build resilience and peace from the ground up through everyday practices and collective action.
