
Katrina Leclerc
Part-Time Professor | Faculty staff
E-mail : kleclerc@ustpaul.ca
Dr. Katrina Leclerc is a peace and conflict scholar, educator, and international policy advisor. She holds a PhD in Conflict Studies from Saint Paul University, a Master鈥檚 in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba鈥揢niversity of Winnipeg joint program, and a Bachelor鈥檚 in Human Rights and Conflict Resolution from the University of Winnipeg. She is a Postdoctoral Adjunct Research Fellow at Griffith University in Australia, teaches in the Human Rights Program and the History Department at the University of Winnipeg, and is also a sessional lecturer at Universit茅 de Saint-Boniface and Canadian Mennonite University. Internationally, she serves as adjunct faculty in the peace and security certificate programs at Universit茅 Senghor in Egypt and holds the 2027 Hunt-Simes Visiting Junior Chair of Sexuality Studies at the University of Sydney.
Her research and teaching focus on feminist peacebuilding, inclusive governance, and the intersections of the United Nations鈥� Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas. Katrina has authored numerous academic articles, policy reports, and practical guidance documents. She is co-editor of (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), (Routledge, 2026), and Youth, Peace, and the Politics of Worldbuilding (Bristol University Press, forthcoming 2027). She is regularly invited to speak at universities and international forums on gender, youth, and peacebuilding policy.
Katrina chairs the WPS Network鈥揅anada (WPSN-C), co-founded the Canadian Coalition for YPS (CCYPS), and currently serves on the UN Advisory Group for the Second Independent Progress Study on YPS. She previously held a series of leadership positions at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), culminating as Program Director, where her work on gender- and age-responsive peacebuilding was recognized as best practice in multiple UN reports. From 2017 to 2020, she served as Parliamentary Affairs Advisor to The Hon. Marilou McPhedran, former independent senator for the province of Manitoba.
She has advised governments, UN agencies, and civil society organizations in over 30 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. She led the development of Chad鈥檚 first WPS National Action Plan, advised on the DRC鈥檚 first YPS plan, and chaired Canadian civil society engagement for the country鈥檚 third WPS plan. She has also served as a researcher and consultant to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), UN Department of Peace Operations, UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, and Global Affairs Canada, specializing in inclusive policy development, civic space, and civil society-government collaboration.
Doctorate of Philosophy, Conflict Studies (Saint Paul University)
Master of Arts, Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Manitoba)
Bachelor of Arts, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (University of Winnipeg)
Feminist peacebuilding theory; critical peace and conflict studies; intersectionality in peace and security; feminist and postcolonial approaches to governance; Women, Peace and Security (WPS); Youth, Peace and Security (YPS); intergenerational and gender analysis in policy; localisation of peacebuilding frameworks
Edited books:
- Leclerc, K., Yague, E. I. B., & Berents, H. (Eds.). (2025). Youth Leading Change: Emerging Sites of Knowledge in Peace and Conflict (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Leclerc, K., Singh, N., & Graham, S. (Eds.). (2026). Women, Peace and Security in Canada and the United States: A Fragmented Peace (1st ed.). Routledge.
Academic articles:
- Leclerc, K. (2026). Building relational power: queer youth, partnerships and the YPS agenda. Journal of Gender Studies, 1鈥�13.
- Leclerc, K. (2025). Bridging the Generational Divide: Youth Inclusion in Canada鈥檚 Women, Peace and Security Commitments. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 1鈥�24.
- Leclerc, K. (2025). Localising Women, Peace, and Security: Community Agency and Ownership Beyond National Policies. Development in Practice, 1鈥�11.
- Leclerc, K. (2025). Feminist Government but No Feminist Foreign Policy: The Curious Case of Canada. Politics & Gender, 1鈥�6.
- Leclerc, K., & Pourmalek, P. (2024). Women Peacebuilders at the Forefront of COVID-19: Documenting Feminist Approaches to Reducing Impacts of Crises. International Studies Review, 26(4),
- Leclerc, K., Stoumen, N., Despain, A., & Zabihi, S. (2023). Al-Raida, 47(1), 3-30.
- Leclerc, K., & Wong, S. (2021). North America needs Youth, Peace and Security: young people shifting tides for positive peace. Potentia: Journal of International and Public Affairs, 12(1),
- Leclerc, K., & Rouhshahbaz, S. (2021). . Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis, 6, 16-40. ISSN: 2631-746X (Print)
- Leclerc, K. (2021). Gender Perspectives in Contemporary Peacebuilding: Collaborative Approaches to Conflict Responses. Global Affairs Review, 2(1), 1-19.
Book chapters:
- Leclerc, K., Graham, S., & Singh, N. (2026). Across a Shared Border: Feminist Solidarity and the State of WPS in Canada and the United States. In K. Leclerc, N. Singh, & S. Graham (Eds.), (pp. 9-14). Routledge.
- Woroniuk, B., & Leclerc, K. (2026). Now You See It, Now You Don鈥檛: Canada and the WPS Agenda. In K. Leclerc, N. Singh, & S. Graham (Eds.), (pp. 97-117). Routledge.
- Leclerc, K., Boh茅mier, A., & Farion, S. (2026). Gender Essentialism in WPS: The Political Erasure of Trans Women in North American Security Discourse. In K. Leclerc, N. Singh, & S. Graham (Eds.), (pp. 185-205). Routledge.
- Leclerc, K., & Wong, S. (2026). Youth as Catalysts for De-polarisation: Leveraging the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda in North America. In K. Leclerc, N. Singh, & S. Graham (Eds.), (pp. 225-243). Routledge.
- Leclerc, K., Yague, E. I. B., & Berents, H. (2025). Young People as Movers and Shakers of Peace and Security. In K. Leclerc, E. I. B. Yague, & H. Berents (Eds.), Youth Leading Change: Emerging Sites of Knowledge in Peace and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mboumien, S. M., & Leclerc, K. (2025). Local Voices, Global Impact: Youth, Peace and Security Discourse Analysis in Northwestern Cameroon. In K. Leclerc, E. I. B. Yague, & H. Berents (Eds.), Youth Leading Change: Emerging Sites of Knowledge in Peace and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Leclerc, K., & Rouhshahbaz, S. (2025). Young Peacebuilders as Architects of Knowledge: Challenging Traditional Paradigms (Ed.), (p. 149-172). Frontpage Publications.
- Leclerc, K. (2021). Instrumentalizing the Youth, Peace and Security agenda for meaningful impact and growth (Ed.), (p. 19-32). Manila: Seeds for Mindanao鈥檚 Advocacy and Youth Leadership.
- Leclerc, K. (2021). More Than tokens: Canadian Women in Decision-making Processes in the Post-1995 Beijing Platform for Action Era (Ed.), (p. 80-89). San Jos茅: University for Peace.