Call for abstracts: feminist frontiers: Rethinking power, agency and responses in conflict-affected borderlands

The XCEPT Research Fund (XRF) invites abstracts that will support the development of a series of high-quality papers that apply a feminist lens to the study of conflict-affected borderlands, with a particular focus on power structures linked to masculinities and femininities, the gendered dynamics of agency within conflict ecosystems, and the potential for feminist approaches to inform more just and transformative peacebuilding in borderlands. Grounded in questions of power, resistance, and structural inequality, this research will contribute to advancing feminist knowledge and practice in borderland contexts and to generating more contextually grounded, equity-focused policy responses to conflict and governance challenges in fragile and contested spaces.

XCEPT will provide up to £15,000 of funding for a 6-9 month project that explores one of the below questions and themes.

1. In what ways do ideas and practices of masculinity and femininity shape power structures and conflict in borderlands?

2. How does gender shape agency within conflict-affected borderlands and how is this reflected in the ways communities or actors navigate, resist or transform structural conditions?

3. In what ways do gender-mainstreaming peacebuilding frameworks engage with the structural and intersectional dimensions of conflict-affected borderlands? What epistemic and practical limitations do these frameworks expose, and how might feminist approaches inform more transformative, contextually grounded interventions?

Papers may be authored individually or co-authored.

Interested applicants can read more about this opportunity here: https://www.xcept-research.org/grants_post/call-for-abstracts-feminist-frontiers-rethinking-power-agency-and-responses-in-conflict-affected-borderlands/ The deadline for submission is Monday 15 September 2025 at 10:00 BST.