Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé has a Ph.D. in Political Science from McGill University. Her research focuses on peace operations and security issues related to fragile states. Her doctoral dissertation strived to understand the conditions under which peace operations succeeded or failed. She studied the cases of Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Her fieldwork was completed in West Africa, Ethiopia (Ogaden region) and South Africa, where she interviewed military commanders, rebel leaders, refugees and experts. Her most recent publications include “Evaluating Peacekeeping Missions: A Typology of Success and Failure in International Interventions”, (Routledge, 2016). Her recent research projects focus on peacekeeping intelligence. She is an associate faculty member of the Center for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS), the Montreal Center for International Studies (CERIUM), the Réseau des Opérations de la paix (ROP) and the Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES).
Dr. Isabelle Francois is the President of Women in International Security (WIIS) Brussels
Dr. Isabelle Francois is an expert in international security with a 30-year professional experience in international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as academia and think tanks. She started her career in the Canadian government at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and subsequently the Department of National Defence (DND). Isabelle is currently Adviser for the Science for Peace and Security at NATO. She has also worked as a consultant providing policy advice to the private and public sectors, and volunteered in several nonprofit organizations. She has served in a number of capitals: Ottawa, Brussels, Moscow, and Washington. She led many international teams, developing and implementing various projects bringing people from different cultures together, and fundraising for causes she felt strongly about. Isabelle has authored over fifty publications on international security issues, spoken at many conferences, and given various interviews to the press. She received her Law degree from Sorbonne, Paris, her Ph.D in Political Science from Université de Montréal, Canada, a Certificate in Essentials of Leadership from London School of Economics (LSE), and her Life Coach Certificate from the United States (QSCA).
WIIS – France’s President, Johanna Möhring and WIIS – Canada’s Vice – Chair, Gaëlle Rivard Piché.
Johanna Möhring is a senior fellow at The Institute for Statecraft in London, Johanna Möhring directs the program on the nature of power in the 21st century. She is an associate researcher at the Thucydide Center, and a board member of WIIS UK, and Open Europe
Gaëlle Rivard Piché is a strategic analyst for Defence Research and Development Canada. She works closely with the Canadian Armed Forces, providing direct decision-making support through evidence-based research on a wide range of topics. She is currently a fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (Carleton University), where she completed her Ph.D. in International Affairs in 2017. She is also a guest lecturer at the Canadian Forces College and works as a consultant for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on security sector reform and peace operations. In 2014-2015, Dr. Rivard Piché was a Fulbright research fellow in the International Security Program at the Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. As a Ph.D. candidate, she conducted extensive field research in Haiti and El Salvador between 2012 and 2015, looking at the consequences of security sector reform on public order and violence. To that end, she also did an internship at the United Nations’ Department of Peace Keeping Operations in New York in 2013.
