Rising Research Star Professor Maïka Sondarjee Wins Young Researcher Award

Professor Sondarjee recently received the Young Researcher Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the field of international relations.

Maïka Sondarjee is an assistant professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on topics of crucial importance, such as multilateralism, international organizations (including the World Bank, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund), the white savior complex, and feminist and Global South theories of international relations.

Professor Sondarjee is particularly interested in the complexities of gender, social race, class and capitalism, North-South relations and citizenship. Using feminist, postcolonial and decolonial tools, she applies a critical analysis framework to the study of the world order, international cooperation practices and exploitation structures. She has published works on inclusive pedagogy, as well as on racial and gender inequalities in education and the media, in which she mobilizes discourse and content analysis methodologies.

In addition to conducting research, Professor Sondarjee serves as a consultant on feminist foreign policy at the provincial and federal levels. She also contributes to Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada committees and is a regular speaker at conferences for civil society and for colleges and universities in Canada and around the world.

Professor Sondarjee is an influential voice in her field, as evidenced by the numerous research grants she has received. Her work has earned her two SSHRC grants as principal investigator: an Insight Development Grant and a Connection Grant. She also collaborated on two other research projects funded by SSHRC Connection grants and received a grant from the Research Support Program operated by the University of Ottawa. The exceptional quality of Professor Sondarjee’s research earned her the SSHRC Talent Award and the Alice Wilson Fellowship from the Royal Society of Canada.

Since her arrival at the University of Ottawa, Professor Sondarjee has taken steps to make her research accessible to a wide audience, for example through regular contributions to the Le Devoir newspaper and media interviews. Her groundbreaking work has been recognized by Québec Science magazine, which profiled her career as an emerging researcher in international solidarity. Concerned about the fair representation of women in the media, Professor Sondarjee is co-founder of the Informed Opinions initiative, a directory of over 800 women experts available for media interviews.

Her book, Perdre le Sud. Décoloniser la solidarité internationale, was a huge success and a finalist for the Prix des libraires du Québec 2021. The book addresses the same issues that have informed Professor Sondarjee’s research, namely the power relations that underpin conventional approaches to international development. As a researcher, she is strongly committed to partnerships, particularly with researchers from immigrant, Indigenous and Global South communities. This intercultural dialogue enriches the knowledge, methods and ideas of her field.

The Faculty of Social Sciences’ Young Researcher Award is bestowed on a professor who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of their unit and to the Faculty through the importance and influence of their work in their field. The award comes with an assistantship and a research fund. Professor Sondarjee’s influential work has not only advanced knowledge in the area of international relations, but also had a significant impact on public policy, practice and debate.

Check out Collabzium to learn more about the work of social science researchers, including Professor Maïka Sondarjee, and discover the cutting-edge research at the Faculty of Social Sciences.