Dr Abida Bano has a PhD in Political Science from the USA as a Fulbright scholar. Her specialization is Comparative Politics (Democratization, Civil Society, and Social Movements as subfields and political theory as a minor). During her PhD, she received intensive training in research methodologies at the Institute for Qualitative and Multimethod Research (IQMR) at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York. Alongside this, she completed a year-long teaching and mentoring certificate program with the Office of Faculty Development at Western Michigan University, USA. She is a life member of the National Political Science Honor Society (PI SIGMA ALPHA – Michigan Chapter) of the United States for her academic excellence. She has also completed a year-long program on Developing Women’s Leadership in Higher Education (2023-2024) from Michigan State University, USA.
Before joining the department of Political Science, she taught at the department of Gender Studies and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Peshawar for more than a decade. She has also worked in administrative positions in the department of Gender Studies and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. Her research interests include gender and politics; formal and informal institutions; political violence & social movements; terrorist organizations; radicalization & violent extremism, among others.
Dr Abida Bano has several travel and research awards (APSA, BASAS, Sangat, Kartini-Sephis) and short-term research fellowships (Colibri-HU, & Berlin Center of Global Engagement – BCGE) to her credit. During her stays at IIAW and Humboldt University, Berlin, she has contributed as an Associate Editor to IQAS and South Asia Chronicle, authored and co-authored chapters and articles, and led workshops on decolonizing methodologies and on borderless research interaction.
She has published papers in both international and national peer-reviewed journals, including Contemporary South Asia and the International Quarterly of South Asian Studies (IQAS). She actively participates in national and international conferences to update her scholarship and network for research collaboration. She has supervised M.Phil. and PhD theses/dissertations on diverse topics, including terrorist alliances in the Northwestern borderlands of Pakistan, governance issues in merged districts (formality & informal rules), gender and climate change, social sciences, resilience-building among youth, displacement and Afghan musicians, and peacebuilding in Afghanistan, among others.
