WELCOME

Dr. Sarah E. Parkinson is the Aronson Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Her research examines organizational behavior and social change in contexts of war and disaster. Focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, Parkinson studies how actors such as military organizations, emergency response agencies, and humanitarian groups adapt in the face of crisis, disruption, and fragmentation. She has conducted extensive fieldwork among Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanon as well as with humanitarian responders in Iraqi Kurdistan. Her current project on the politics of emergency response and public safety has taken her to Turkey, Tunisia, and Qatar.

BACKGROUND

Parkinson holds a Ph.D. (2013) and M.A. (2008) in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a B.A. (2004) in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University. She has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study at Northwestern University, Qatar, the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, and Yale University's Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence. From 2017-2020, Parkinson conducted research on ethical communities of practice in crisis zones as part of the Exploration of Practical Ethics program at Johns Hopkins University’s Berman Institute of Bioethics. From 2020-2023, Parkinson conducted fieldwork on emergency response and statebuilding in the Middle East with the support of a Catalyst Award. She teaches courses on Middle East politics, the politics of disaster, research methods and ethics, and political violence.

Parkinson serves on the Advisory Committee of the Project on Middle East Political Science, a collaborative network designed to enhance the field of Middle East political science and to advance its engagement with academics, policy circles, and the broader public realm. She is a co-founder of the Advancing Research on Conflict Consortium, which facilitates the development of methodological, technical, practical, and professional resources that researchers need to conduct fieldwork in fragile and violence-affected environments. She volunteers as an emergency medical technician in her spare time.