Sarah Phillips

Sarah Phillips is Professor of Global Conflict and Development at the University of Sydney's School of Arts and Social Sciences. An award-winning author and Australian Research Council Future Fellow, she conducts in-depth fieldwork focusing on international intervention in the global south, knowledge production about violence, authoritarianism, and non-state governance, with a geographic focus on the Middle East and Africa.

Her research interests include:

• International intervention in the global south
• Authoritarianism
• The production of knowledge about violence
• Narrative politics in International Relations
• Non-state governance
• The security-development "nexus"
• State formation and state "fragility"
• Post-colonial perspectives on International Relations
• Yemeni politics

Professor Phillips' work demonstrates how studying places typically marginalized within International Relations provides crucial insights into global political dynamics. Her research methodology combines extensive fieldwork with theoretical innovation, challenging conventional wisdom about violence, poverty, and external intervention in the global South. Her publications span numerous high-impact journals including International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, European Journal of International Relations, African Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Australian Journal of International Affairs, and International Affairs. Her work shows consistent thematic development exploring how non-state actors maintain order, how knowledge about violence is produced, and how external interventions often inadvertently reinforce existing power structures rather than promoting positive change.

Scientific awards and recognition:

• Crisp Prize (2018-2020)
• Foreign Affairs 'Book of the Year' (2020)
• Australian Book Review 'Book of the Year' (2020)
• Conflict Research Society Shortlisted for 'Book of the Year' Prize (2021)
• Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize Finalist (2021)
• Stephen Ellis Prize for innovative article in African Affairs (2014-2015)

Professor Phillips has secured multiple competitive research grants including three from the Australian Research Council (a DECRA, a joint Discovery Award, and a Future Fellowship), as well as a Sydney Outstanding Academic Research (SOAR) Fellowship. She currently supervises multiple PhD students working on topics related to coloniality, war, and development. She serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies (Yemen and Lebanon) and a Research Associate at the Developmental Leadership Program (University of Birmingham, UK).

With approximately five years of cumulative fieldwork experience across the Middle East and Horn of Africa (particularly in Yemen, Somaliland, Kenya, Jordan, Pakistan, Oman, and Iraq), Professor Phillips brings deep empirical knowledge to her theoretical contributions. Her work bridges academic scholarship with practical policy insights, regularly contributing to major media outlets including BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, ABC Radio and Television, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy.