Professor Marie Breen-Smyth joined the Department of Politics at the University of Surrey in February 2011 as Chair in International Politics.

Professor Breen-Smyth has written and researched political violence including its impact on civilian populations and is one of the initiators of a critical approach to terrorism studies and a founding editor of the Taylor and Francis journal Critical Terrorism Studies. Her interests in international intervention include processes of militarization and demilitarization, transitional justice, armed conflict and children. She has also written on field research methods and ethics in violent contexts. Her regional interests include South Africa, Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland and former Yugoslavia.