Susanne Schmeidl

Susanne Schmeidl is a Fulbright Scholar and Honorary Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney's School of Social Sciences. She specializes in conflict studies, forced migration, and post-conflict development, with expertise in early warning systems and inclusive peacebuilding. Her career spans over two decades of work with organizations like the UN Refugee Agency, Swiss Peace Foundation, and civil society groups in Afghanistan.

• PhD in Sociology - The Ohio State University (USA)
• MA in Sociology - The Ohio State University (USA)
• Bachelor (Honours) in Social Pedagogy/Social Work - University of Applied Sciences Nürnberg (Germany)

Her research focuses on:

• Drivers of conflict and forced displacement
• Early warning and conflict prevention mechanisms
• Participatory peacebuilding in fragile contexts
• Development challenges in post-conflict societies
• Hybrid security arrangements and civil-military relations

Recent publications (2023-2025) emphasize conflict sensitivity frameworks, ethical knowledge co-production in Afghanistan, and institutional analysis of migration systems. She co-edited the 2025 volume on conflict sensitivity trends and contributed to studies on refugee storytelling, aging in the Global South, and data challenges in displacement analysis.

Scientific recognition includes the Fulbright Scholarship. She actively engages with the Sydney peacebuilding community and serves on the Board of Peacifica.