UQ 2026 Summer Research program (UQ students only)

Project title: 

Missing Persons and Atrocity Prevention in the Asia Pacific region

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

24 hours/week,  12 Jan – 20 Feb 2026, hybrid delivery (on-site weekly meetings and option for remote/online research)

Description:

In recent years, notable headway has been made in addressing missing persons and enforced disappearances as not only a humanitarian issue, but a central component of atrocity prevention. There is growing consensus that disappearances may be an early warn sign of identity-based targeting, are part of the repertoire of widespread and systematic violence that constitutes atrocity crimes, and are a central concern for survivor-centred justice and accountability.

This project investigates the nexus between missing persons and atrocity prevention in the Asia Pacific region, with attention to: (1) how patterns of disappearances are both consequences of mass violence and early warning indicators of atrocity crimes, and (2) how missing persons mechanisms and related survivor-centred justice and accountability initiatives can be supported and advanced in the Asia Pacific, including through integrating missing persons initiatives in prevention, protection, and peacebuilding policy frameworks in the region.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables:

Outcome: Co-author of research report of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, which will inform its stakeholder outreach and policy engagement.

The project will contribute to the student’s ability to:

• Conduct conflict and atrocity risk analysis utilising the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes
• Gather and critically assess disperse sources (NGO reports, UN documentation, media reports) and synthesise data into coherent analysis
• Undertake strategic policy mapping to examine how global missing persons initiatives intersect with policy frameworks in the Asia Pacific region
• Understand the dissonance between global and regional/local prevention and protection agendas, and communicate the importance of contextual and localised atrocity prevention strategies
• Reflect ethically on how to frame and advance survivor-centred justice and accountability efforts

Suitable for:

High-performing IR/Peace and Conflict Studies/Law students with demonstrated interest in/commitment to the issue area, broadly defined (e.g., human rights protection, atrocity prevention, justice and accountability).

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Sarah Teitt, Director, Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Further info:

For enquiries or additional information on eligibility, please contact the Centre Manager of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Arna Chancellor a.chancellor@uq.edu.au