Dr Shanks received her PhD from the University of Exeter in 2013. Her doctoral studies were funded by the ESRC and set within a wider research project undertaken by the University of Cambridge, Queens University Belfast and the University of Exeter, entitled ‘Conflict in Cities and the Contested State’. The thesis examined the relationship between conflict and education in the ethnically diverse Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Her subsequent research correspondingly focuses on the relationship between diversity management and security in the Middle East; with a focus on education policy and the politicisation of identity and religion through formal education structures.
Dr Shanks held the position of Research Fellow at the University of York’s Postwar Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) in 2013 and previously worked as an Education Technical Advisor to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI). She has participated in a number of applied research projects; leading research projects for UNAMI and contributing toward commissioned work by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. She has completed the IOM Security Awareness Training (SAIT) for working in fragile and conflict-affected areas and has conducted field work in Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Somalia.
Projects and Presentations
• ‘Ethno-Politics and Intervention in a Globalized World’ Conference, EXCEPS
University of Exeter. 2010.
Paper Presented: Education as an Ethnic Defense Strategy: Education in
Kirkuk.
• ‘Transition, Ethnicity and Education: The challenge of diversity and social
cohesion’ workshop 2012 – I co-organized the workshop for the Exeter Centre for
Ethno-Political Studies (EXCEPS).
Paper presented: Post 2003 Education reconstruction in the Iraqi Disputed
Territories.
• ‘Teaching Religion: Policy and Practice’ workshop, AUB, Byblos Lebanon 2012
Paper Presented: The Evolution of Religious Education the UK.
• UKFIET Conference, Oxford University, 2013
Paper Presented: (On behalf of UNICEF Somali office) Peace-building
Education and Conflict analysis in Somalia
Reports and Academic Papers
• Shanks, 2012, ‘Mother Tongue Education Mapping and Analysis: Iraqi DIBS’ Report: UNAMI
• Shanks, 2012, ‘Education as an Ethnic Defense Strategy: Turkmen Education in Kirkuk’, Working Paper Conflict in Cities
• Shanks, 2012, ‘Educations Alternative Purpose in Iraq’ Project Report: Conflict in Cities.
• Shanks, 2014, ‘Teaching Religion: The Evolution of Education in the UK, in
Hanf and El‐Mufti (ed) Policies and Politics of Teaching Religion, Nomos
Middle East Research Group 