K C, Dr. Luna
PhD, MA (Wageningen University)
Biography
My name is Luna KC. I’m an Assistant Professor in Global and International Studies at the Faculty of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities, UNBC. Prior to joining UNBC, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University. I also lectured at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia. I earned my PhD (2019) and master’s degree (2011), both in International Development Studies (with a focus on conflict, security, disaster, and public policy), from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. My work is interdisciplinary and transnational, situated at the nexus of gender, armed conflict, women, peace, and security (WPS), cybersecurity, technology-facilitated violence, and disasters. I have area specialties in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and North America. Furthermore, I have worked and provided advice in various organizations, including Plan International, Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, Women Transforming Cities, National Defence Canada, and the Asian Development Bank. I am also a research co-lead at the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security. I love reading, hiking, and cooking my favorite dishes when not working.
At UNBC, I teach:
- Cybersecurity: From Critical Perspectives
- Gender, Peace and Security
- Gender and Disasters
- Gender and Global Crisis
- Contemporary Feminist Theories
Current research projects:
- Rebels to Politicians: Women Ex-Combatants’ Transformation into Political Representatives in Post-Conflict Nepal and Colombia ($70,690). 2025-2027. Social Science Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Insight Development Grant.
- Developing a Women’s Cyber Self-Defence Toolkit, funded by TEG ($50,000) (Ongoing). https://universityaffairs.ca/news/unbc-prof-developing-toolkit-to-help-women-feel-safe-online/
- Conflict, Disaster, and Changing Gender Roles (Ongoing). https://www.civilwarpaths.org/conflict-reintegration-gender/
- Cybersecurity, Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and National Action Plans. (Ongoing)
Research and expertise
I’m interested in understanding how gender and intersectional factors matter in conflict, peace, security, cyber, and disaster contexts, and how these issues are shaped and reshaped by changing global dynamics, gender norms, and gender roles, as well as their impact on both global and local agendas.
- Gender and Women's Studies
- Human Rights
- International Studies
- Political Science
- English
- Hindi
- Nepali
Selected publications
Luna KC. (2025) "Do Local Norms Affect Women Ex-Combatants Reintegration in the Postwar Era?." Global Studies Quarterly 5, no. 1. ksaf015.https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/5/1/ksaf015/8087931
Crystal Whetstone and Luna KC (2025). An Intersectional Feminist Critique of Cyberlibertarian’s Grip on the Construction of Online Freedom. Global Studies Quarterly. Volume 5, Issue 3. https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/5/3/ksaf066/8230188
Luna KC. (2025). "Women Politicians Responding to Patriarchy in Postconflict Nepal." Global Studies Quarterly 5, no. 1. https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/5/1/ksaf007/8019455
Luna KC and Megan MacKenzie (2024). "Postcards from the Pandemic: Women, Intersectionality, and Gendered Risks in the Global COVID-19 Pandemic." International Studies Review 26, no. 4. https://academic.oup.com/isr/article/26/4/viae041_1/7834944
Crystal Whetstone and Luna KC (2023) “Disrupting the Saviour Politics in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Global South: Grassroots Women Creating Gender Norms in Nepal and Sri Lanka”. Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/23477970231152027
Luna KC and Crystal Whetstone. (2022). “Rethinking women, peace, and security through the localization of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 & National Action Plans: A study of Nepal and Sri Lanka”. Women's Studies International Forum (Vol. 92, p. 102575). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2022.102575
Luna KC and Crystal Whetstone. (2022). “Women, Peace and Security and Increasing Gendered Risk in the Era of COVID-19: Insights from Nepal and Sri Lanka”. Global Studies Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksac036
Luna KC and Dorothea Hilhorst. (2022). "Gendered experience of disaster: Women's account of evacuation, relief and recovery in Nepal." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 72: 102840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102840
Luna KC. (2019). “Everyday Realities of Reintegration: Experiences of Maoist ‘Verified’ Women Ex-Combatants in the Aftermath of War in Nepal.” Conflict, Security & Development. 19 (5): 453-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2019.1658969
Luna KC and Gemma Van Der Haar. (2018). “Living Gender Ideology: Experiences of Women Ex-Combatants in Nepal.” International Feminist Journal of Politics: 1–36). https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1521296
Luna KC, Gemma Van Der Haar, and Dorothea Hilhorst. (2017). “Changing Gender Role: Women’s Livelihoods, Conflict and Post-Conflict Security in Nepal.” Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 4 (2): 175–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347797017710743
Book chapters
Luna KC. (2025). "Women, peace and security: Women ex-combatants, reintegration and knowledge production of war in postwar Nepal." Annika Björkdahl, Johanna Mannergren (Eds) . In The Production of Gendered Knowledge of War, pp. 87-100. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003530411-6/women-peace-security-luna
Luna KC and Crystal Whetstone. (2024). "Women, gender roles and gender-based violence after war." (Eds) Gayle Kaufman, Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, Steven Roberts, Brittany Ralph. In Research Handbook on the Sociology of Gender, pp. 345-358. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Crystal Whetstone and Luna KC .(2024). A Call for Feminist Insights in Cybersecurity: Implementing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Cyberspace (with Whetstone, Crystal). In Anwar Mhajne and Alexis Henshaw (Eds). Critical Perspectives on Cybersecurity: Feminist and Postcolonial Interventions. Oxford University Press.
Luna KC (2018). “Securing Livelihoods Experiences of the Mother Ex-Combatants in Post Conflict Nepal.” In Gender and History, editor Rekha Pandey, 197–219. Rawat Publications.
Public scholarship
Luna KC and Crystal Whetstone. War, peace, and security: The pandemic’s impact on women and girls in Nepal and Sri Lanka. The Conversation. August 22, 2022. (https://theconversation.com/war-peace-and-security-the-pandemics-impact…)
Luna KC and Priscyll A. Avoine. Anniversary of peace deals in Nepal and Colombia: Views on female ex-soldiers need to be challenged. The Conversation. November 18, 2021. (https://theconversation.com/anniversary-of-peace-deals-in-nepal-and-col….)
Luna KC, How COVID-19 Worsens Gender Inequality in Nepal, The Diplomat. June 23, 2020. (https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/how-covid-19-worsens-gender-inequality-…)
Luna KC Armed Conflict, Reintegration, and Gender Roles. Civil War Paths, November 11, 2023. (https://www.civilwarpaths.org/conflict-reintegration-gender/)
Luna KC, No Women, Peace and Security Without Addressing Gendered Risk Eroded by COVID-19: Perspectives from Canada. Research-Network on Women Peace and Security. McGill University. August 10, 2022. (https://www.mcgill.ca/rnwps/article/our-blog/no-women-peace-and-securit…)
Luna KC and Ketty Ankeyo. Brief of the Virtual Meeting on preparing Canada’s Third National Action Plan. Research-Network on Women Peace and Security. McGill University. March 7, 2022. (https://www.mcgill.ca/rnwps/article/our-blog/brief-virtual-meeting-prep…)
Anwar Mhajne, Luna KC and Crystal Whetstone (2021). A call for feminist analysis in cybersecurity: highlighting the relevance of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. London School of Economics. (https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2021/09/17/a-call-for-feminist-analysis-in-…)
Luna KC and Crystal Whetstone. Making the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda ‘Local’? Research-Network on Women Peace and Security. McGill University. October 13, 2021. (https://www.mcgill.ca/rnwps/article/our-blog/making-women-peace-and-sec…)
Luna KC and Kim Beaulieu. National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security. Research-Network on Women Peace and Security. McGill University. January, 2021. (https://www.mcgill.ca/rnwps/files/rnwps/revised_pre-reads-naps.pdf)
Luna KC 2019. Female combatants’ struggles for gender equality and empowerment in Nepal. International Journal of Feminist Politics. (https://www.ifjpglobal.org/blog/2019/5/29/female-combatants-struggles-f…)
Luna KC (2021). Violence Against Women in Canada & COVID-19 Pandemic. Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW). (https://www.criaw-icref.ca/publications/violence-against-women-in-canad…)
Luna KC (2021). Women and COVID-19 Overview. CRIAW. (https://www.criaw-icref.ca/publications/women-and-covid-19-overview/)
Luna KC (2021). Women, COVID-19, and Care Economy. CRIAW. (https://www.criaw-icref.ca/publications/women-covid-19-and-care-economy/)
Luna KC (2021). Racialized Women & COVID-19 Challenges in Canada. CRIAW. (https://www.criaw-icref.ca/publications/racialized-women-covid-19-chall…)
Alig, Mélissa, Neapole Jackie, Kyla Piccin, and Luna KC (2021). A Guide to Building Feminist Intersectional Solidarity. CRIAW. (https://www.criaw-icref.ca/publications/a-guide-to-building-feminist-in…)
Feminist lens on Alt-right Ideology, Canadian Women’s Foundation: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alright-now-what/episodes/A-Fem… February 9, 2022.