​Dr Roxani Krystalli is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the University of St Andrews School of International Relations. A key question animating Roxani's work is what sustains life in the face of loss.

Roxani is the co-Principal Investigator of a research project on the role of love and care in illuminating richer understandings of loss, politics, and place. One component of this project, rooted in Scotland, examines how practices of attention are linked to care by investigating what it means to love a place and what duties flow from that love. The work is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the German Research Foundation, and unfolds in collaboration with Dr Philipp Schulz at the University of Bremen.

Roxani's first book, Good Victims: The Political as a Feminist Question, was published by Oxford University Press in 2024. Based on in-depth feminist engagement in Colombia over the course of a decade, Roxani argues for the possibilities of politics through, rather than in opposition to, the status of "victim." Good Victims also sheds light on the ethical and methodological dilemmas that arise when contemplating the legacies not only of violence, but also of the justice mechanisms set up to address it. Good Victims won the Lee Ann Fujii Prize of the American Political Science Association. It also received an Honourable Mention for Best Book by a Female Scholar from the Peace Studies Section of the International Studies Association, and was shortlisted for Feminist Theory and Gender Studies book of the year, and the L.H.M. Ling Outstanding First Book Prize of the British International Studies Association. Roxani's research on the politics and hierarchies of victimhood in Colombia received the Peter Ackerman Award for best PhD dissertation at The Fletcher School in 2020. In the same year, her article on the ethics and methods of narrating victimhood was the runner-up for the Cynthia Enloe prize at the International Feminist Journal of Politics. 

For over a decade, Roxani has worked at the intersection of gender and peacebuilding as an academic researcher and humanitarian practitioner. Roxani has partnered with various organisations, including Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Feinstein International Center, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, and Beyond Borders, to shed light on the experiences of conflict-affected communities. Her work has focused on developing ethical and rigorous methodologies for documenting gendered harms. Roxani continues to advise international organisations and NGOs on gender, justice, and peacebuilding.

An enthusiastic teacher who embraces feminist pedagogies, Roxani has won several awards, nominated by students and faculty. In 2023, the British International Studies Association honoured Roxani with the Early Career Excellence in Teaching International Studies award. The class she designed and teaches on The Politics of Nature and Place has also received the Golden Dandelion Award at the University of St Andrews "in recognition of considerable contribution to education for sustainable development." 

Beyond her academic writing, Roxani shares occasional essays on Stories of Conflict and Love, whose blog predecessor won the Best Individual Blog award from the International Studies Association in 2019. Her academic research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Academy, the United States Institute of Peace, the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Henry J. Leir Institute, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, and the World Peace Foundation, among others. 

Roxani holds a PhD and MA from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a BA from Harvard University. She is from Greece and lives in Scotland. ​

Creative writing

This website primarily discusses Roxani's work as an academic and peacebuilding professional. In addition to these pursuits, Roxani is a storyteller who thinks and writes about nature and place, memory and loss, attention and care, and notions of home. Those reflections can be found on her (very occasional) newsletter, Stories of Conflict and Love.