Katrina Leclerc

Title: Instructor - Fall 2025

Biography:

Katrina Leclerc is a PhD candidate and part-time professor in Conflict Studies at Saint Paul University. She also serves as adjunct faculty in the peace and security certificate programmes at Senghor University in Egypt. She holds a Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba–University of Winnipeg joint programme, and a Bachelor’s in Human Rights and Conflict Resolution from the University of Winnipeg—a proud alumna of the Global College.

Her research and teaching focus on feminist peacebuilding, inclusive governance, and the intersections of the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas. Katrina has authored several publications, including academic articles, policy reports, and toolkits. She is co-editor of the volume Youth Leading Change: Emerging Sites of Knowledge in Peace and Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), and is regularly invited to speak at global forums and universities on gender, youth, and peacebuilding policy.

Katrina is a globally recognised peacebuilding expert and gender policy advisor. She chairs the Women, Peace and Security Network – Canada (WPSN-C) and co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS). From 2014 to 2024, she held various leadership roles at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), including Program Director, where her work on gender- and age-responsive policy was cited as best practice in three UN Secretary-General reports. She also served as Parliamentary Affairs Advisor to Senator Marilou McPhedran, the founding dean of the Global College.

She has advised governments, UN agencies, and civil society organisations in Canada, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, and Rwanda. She led the development of Chad’s first WPS National Action Plan, advised on the DRC’s first YPS plan, and chaired Canadian civil society engagement for the country’s third WPS plan.

Katrina is a rostered expert with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), and the Norwegian Refugee Council’s NORCAP. She has also served as a researcher and consultant to the UN Department of Peace Operations, UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, and Global Affairs Canada, specialising in inclusive policy development, civic space, and civil society-government collaboration.

Courses:
HR-2100-001 Concepts and Conventions in Human Rights