Julia Paulson PhD

Dr. Julia Paulson was appointed Dean of the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan in 2023. She is concurrently appointed as a tenured professor in the College’s Department of Educational Foundations. Dr. Paulson was previously Professor of Education, Peace and Conflict at the University of Bristol, UK, where she retains an honorary professorship.

Dr. Paulson’s research explores the relationships between peace, conflict and education, with a focus on teaching about injustice and violence, memory studies and transitional justice. She is well-known for her comparative work on truth commissions and their impact on educational and curricular change. Dr. Paulson co-leads the Education, Justice and Memory Network (EdJAM), £2million network working in 13 countries on creative approaches to teaching and learning about past violence and injustice. She is Co-Editor of the journal Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education.

Dr. Paulson was the first Director of Undergraduate Programming in the School of Education at the University of Bristol, launching new programs in Education Studies and Psychology in Education. She has won teaching awards at the University of Bristol and Bath Spa University and is a Fellow of the UK’s Higher Education Academy. She has experience supporting EDI and decolonization work in and beyond higher education settings and is committed to this work in the College of Education.

Dr. Paulson was born in Treaty 6 territory in St. Albert, Alberta and is delighted and honored to return to the prairies with her partner and two children.

• DPhil, University of Oxford, 2011
• MSc Comparative and International Education, University of Oxford, 2006
• BAH, Development Studies and Sociology, Queen’s University, 2002

• Education, transitional justice and truth commissions
• Teaching about past violence and injustice, including with the Education, Justice and Memory Network (EdJAM)
• Comparative and international education

• Co-Editor, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education

Paulson, J. and Tikly, L. (2023). Reconceptualizing violence in international and comparative education: Revisiting Galtung’s framework. Comparative Education Review, 67(4), 771-796.

Paulson, J. and Shanks, K. (2023). Bringing peacebuidling into nexus thinking in Education in Emergencies: Promising practices to overcome injustices. Paris: Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies, UNESCO and Geneva Hub for Education in Emergencies (available in English, French and Spanish).

Paulson, J. (2023). Reparative pedagogies, in Y. Hutchison, A.A. Cortez Ochoa, J. Paulson and L. Tikly (Eds.) Decolonizing Education for Sustainable Futures. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Shanks, K. and Paulson, J. (2022). Ethical research landscapes in fragile and conflict-affected contexts: Understanding the challenges. Research Ethics, 18(3), 169-192.

Paulson, J., Abiti, N., Bermeo Osorio, J. Charria Hernández, C.A., Keo, D., Manning, P., Milligan, L.O., Moles, K., Pennell, C., Salih, S., and Shanks, K. (2020). Education as a site of memory: Developing a research agenda. International Studies in the Sociology of Education, 29(4), 429-451. Winner of the 2020 ISSE paper of the year award.