Melis Cin is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice at Lancaster University. She is a feminist researcher with a particular interest in exploring the relationship between education and international development. There are two strands to her current research:
a) Gender, Education and Peace in International Development: Her research explores the role and quality of education in promoting gender equality and peacebuilding and unsettles the normative policies and practices by offering a critical, intersectional and decolonial feminist analysis. She employs socially engaged art interventions as a way to understand the local meanings of peace in formal and informal education settings and work on the design and delivery of peace education in conflict settings.
b) Participatory Arts in International Development: The second aspect of her research aims to bring together arts and humanities methods with a research agenda on international development. She use arts methods with marginalised populations in Global South to raise critical consciousness, stimulate change in the community and facilitate public deliberation on important political and social issues that matter to the communities.
Her research interests include gender, international development and peacebuilding in education. She uses participatory art methods and feminist theories to address injustices faced by communities (such as refugees, conflict-stricken groups or ethnic minorities).