Dr Deborah Mayersen is Senior Lecturer in International and Political Studies in the School of Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Her research focuses on how genocides occur, the antecedents to genocide, and genocide prevention. She is the author of On the Path to Genocide: Armenia and Rwanda Reexamined (Berghahn Books, 2014) and the forthcoming Genocide Prevention: An Evidence-Based Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2026). Mayersen has edited several collections, including The Role of the Military in Genocide Prevention and Response (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026), A Cultural History of Genocide in the Modern World (Bloomsbury, 2021), The United Nations and Genocide (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and Genocide and Mass Atrocities in Asia: Legacies and Prevention (Routledge, 2013, co-edited with Annie Pohlman). She serves as co-editor of the Cambridge Elements in Genocide Studies series. Her contributions extend to numerous book chapters, such as 'Genocide During the First World War' in The Routledge History of the First World War (Taylor & Francis, 2024), 'The Absence of Genocide in the Presence of Risk: When Genocide Does Not Occur' in Genocide: Key Themes (Oxford University Press, 2022, with Stephen McLoughlin), and 'United Nations Outreach Programmes and Genocide Prevention' in The United Nations and Genocide (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Mayersen has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, including 'Promoting Resilience to Genocide: An Evidence-based Approach' in Genocide Studies and Prevention (2024), 'Saving Bulgarian Jewry from the Holocaust: The Role of National Identity' in Ethnopolitics (2024), 'Armenian Resistance to the Hamidian Massacres' in Genocide Studies and Prevention (2022), 'Predicting Genocide and Mass Killing' in Journal of Genocide Research (2021), and 'Is Help Coming? Communal Self-protection during Genocide' in Stability (2020). Additional articles cover topics such as representations of ethnicity in Rwandan rhetoric, the timing of genocide, and UN capacity for atrocity prevention. She regularly consults for non-governmental organizations in atrocity prevention and provides expert advice to governments on prevention and response strategies. Mayersen supervises postgraduate students in genocide studies.

Professional Email: d.mayersen@unsw.edu.au