Vanessa Brown

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Vanessa Brown holds a PhD in Sociology from Carleton University. Her PhD thesis investigates the integration of gender and cultural perspectives in Professional Military Education and its relationship to organizational culture change. Dr Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Defence Studies at Canadian Forces College. Dr. Brown assumes a variety of defense research and advisory roles. Dr. Brown is an Adjunct Professor at the Inter-American Defense College in Washington DC and serves as Program Chair for Canada’s Inter-University Seminar on the Armed Forces and Society. In recent years Dr. Brown was an Assistant Professor with the Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security developing curriculum and research on Mainstreaming Gender Perspectives in Operations for the United Nations Chief Heads of Defense Network on Women, Peace and Security. Additionally, Dr. Brown was the first Gender Advisor to Commander of the Canadian Defence Academy. Dr. Brown has received a commendation from the Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff for her commissioned report which applied gender-based and intersectional analysis to military education and culture at Canadian Forces College. Dr. Brown teaches in the areas of leadership, military sociology, and institutional policy with a focus on gender and cultural equity. Her current research focuses on organizational culture change, advancing gender and intersectional perspectives in and through defence organizations, and the use of military Gender Advisors and Gender Focal Points to create transformational change institutionally and operationally. Dr. Brown is also researching gender-based violence facilitated by small arms and its relationship to international law, norms and policy on arms trade.

Network Goals

  • Contribute to building collaborative relationships across WPS-RN’s diverse civilian, civil-society, and defence participants.

  • Generate and share participative research related to WPS and the role of defence organizations.

  • Develop opportunities for junior scholars to research, network, and publish on topics which advance understanding about gendered and intersectional impacts and implications of peace and security.

Publications

  • Brown, V. (2023). “Whither Professional Military Education: Socialization, Learning, and Culture Change in the Canadian Armed Forces.” Canadian Military Journal, Kingston.

  • Brown, V.; Eichler, M. (2023). “Getting to the Root of the Problem: Understanding and Changing Canadian Military Culture.” Canadian Military Journal, Kingston, 23(3).

  • Brown, V. (2021). Integrating gender and cultural perspectives in Canada’s Professional Military Education: transforming military culture through informed leadership. Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University.

  • Brown, V. (2021). “Gender Considerations in Advancing the Vancouver Principles in Armed Forces,” Allons-y: Journal of Children, Peace & Security. Vol. 5, March.

  • Brown, V.; Okros, A. (2021). “Disrupting Social Constructions in the Profession of Arms,” in Rethinking Military Professionalism, Hachey, K., Lebel, T., Dean, W. Eds. Springer International Publishing.

  • Brown, V. (2020). “Situating Feminist Progress in Professional Military Education,” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, Vol. 41. No. 2: 26-41.

  • Brown, V.; Okros, A. (2019). “Dancing Around Gender: Changing Identity in a Post-Deschamps Military,” in Culture and the Soldier: How Identity, Values, and Norms Intersect with Contemporary Military Engagements, Breed, H.C. Ed. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

  • Brown, V.; Okros, A. (2018). “New Leaders, ‘New Wars’: A Reflective Approach to Applying Gender and Cultural Perspectives,” in Watola, D. & MacIntyre, A. Eds. From “Knowing” to “Doing”:  International Perspectives on Leading Effectively, Kingston: Canadian Defence Academy Press.