Izabela Steflja is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU). Prior to joining WLU, Dr. Steflja was a Professor of Practice in International Development and Political Science at Tulane University (2016–2021). Dr. Steflja has conducted years of ethnographic fieldwork in post-conflict countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya, Serbia, and Rwanda) in multiple languages (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, French, and English). Her research deals with local perceptions of international criminal trials, women’s participation in war crimes, and child participants in armed conflict. Central questions driving her research are: Who are the constituents of international criminal justice? How do we complexify the victim and perpetrator binary in the accountability project?

Dr. Steflja is the author of Women as War Criminals: Gender, Agency, and Justice (with Jessica Trisko Darden; Stanford University Press, 2020). She has published in scholarly journals such as Third World Quarterly, Nationalities Papers, and Human Rights Review, policy-relevant outlets such as Africa Portal, and media outlets such as War on the Rocks and The Conversation. Dr. Steflja was previously a Simons Research Fellow in Dialogue on International Law and Human Security at Simon Fraser University (2014–2015) and a visiting fellow in international development at the London School of Economic and Political Science (2013–2014).