St Cross DPhil student Melissa Skorka Highly Commended in Vice-Chancellor's Awards

St Cross student Melissa Skorka has been awarded a Highly Commended in the Early Career category of the Vice-Chancellor's Innovation Awards 2018.

Melissa is a DPhil candidate in History at the University of Oxford Changing Character of War Centre (CCW). Prior to this, Melissa served for a decade as an advisor specialising in international security with an emphasis on US foreign policy, violent non-state actors, natural resource conflict, and governance institutions in Central Asia and Africa. Melissa completed four consecutive tours in Afghanistan as a strategic advisor to the Commanding General of the International Security Assistance Force, advising US and NATO armed forces. The College recently awarded Melissa the Collingswood Prize, which is given in recognition of excellence in the study of history.

Melissa was recognised by the Vice-Chancellor's Awards for her project '21st Century Terrorist Political Adaptation to Western Policy'. The project combines historical and political analysis of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Haqqani network in Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, showing the impact of US policy evolution on this notorious movement. The project has been acknowledged by the National Security Advisor of the US administration, resulting in adjustments in US foreign policy.

Ella Bedrock

Wednesday 18 July