Jessica Smith

Jessica Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with minors in Spanish and Psychology, as well as a Master of Arts in Social Justice and Human Rights, both from Arizona State University. She joins the S-CAR community as the Dean’s Fellow for the Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution.

Most recently Jessica worked with the Gender Advisor for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Amman, Jordan where she assisted with Agency-wide activities aimed at promoting and monitoring gender sensitive programming and interventions in line with international frameworks for gender equality. Prior to this post, Jessica was the Program Manager of the Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research at Arizona State University where her research focused on domestic sex trafficking. Jessica collaborated on multiple projects involving the use of innovative research methodologies designed to contribute to and expand the sex trafficking knowledge base. Jessica also co-facilitated a weekly trauma-focused psycho-education group with sex trafficking survivors and led therapeutic art workshops at a safe house for sex trafficked adult women.

As a PhD student at S-CAR, Jessica would like to pursue research that contributes to the advancement of policy and practice that supports the inclusion and active participation of women in post-conflict processes. She is interested in ethnographic research that incorporates the use of photography and narrative as means for exploring gendered dimensions of conflict. She is drawn to non-traditional research methodologies that amplify the voices of marginalized populations and create spaces for individuals to press for change on their own behalf.