Where Research Meets Impact: An Education in Systems, Power & Place
Jennifer’s academic foundation is anchored by a PhD in Social Anthropology focused on peace, power, and infrastructure in conflict-affected regions. Her research in Nigeria’s Niger Delta examined how localized peace is built through corporate systems, spatial governance, and everyday resilience. This work complements broader training in international security, urban resilience, sustainability, and conflict resolution, shaped by advanced degrees and programs from the Santa Fe Institute, Duke CE, and the University of Cape Town. Across her studies, Jennifer brings an interdisciplinary lens to systems, place, and social transformation.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Santa Fe Institute - Urban Transformation, Global Summer School on Urban Sustainability, a month- long course with globally dispersed experts that focused on urban design, transformation, and resilience
Duke CE (Corporate Education) - Business, MBA program that provided accelerated learning on key business concepts and strategies
Development Policy Management Institute - Design, Certificate program on partnership, design thinking, and strategy design
University of Cape Town - Conflict Resolution, Certificate program on international mediation and conflict resolution
EDUCATION
PhD in Anthropology, University of Basel, Switzerland Dissertation: Petro Peace in the Niger Delta
Conducted 10+ years of ethnographic research across Nigeria’s Niger Delta, analyzing how corporate infrastructures (compounds, roads, checkpoints, power systems) and influence produce localized “peace” within conflict zones.
Developed the concept of Petro Peace to describe spatially bounded, materially constructed, and selectively governed forms of peace shaped by oil industry actors.
Challenged conventional peacebuilding models by foregrounding infrastructure, spatial governance, and lived experience as critical vectors of power and order.
Built and managed long-term field relationships with community actors, NGOs, and private sector stakeholders under complex political and security conditions.
Contributed to global debates on resource conflict, infrastructural violence, and peace beyond state-centric paradigms.
Master of Arts in International Policy & Security, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder