Linda Darkwa is an academic-practitioner in the areas of peace, security, governance and gender. A Senior Research Fellow of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), Dr. Darkwa also provides strategic advice to three international civil society organisations and the African Union’s Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security under the umbrella of the Training for Peace programme. These include advise on key policies and Processes as well as norms relating to Peace Support Operations, Gender and Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development among others.  In 2022 she was appointed a member of the Experts on the review of the African Union’s PCRD Policy. Dr. Darkwa is a member of the Technical Committee of the Tana Forum, the editorial board of the Contemporary Security Policy journal and the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR Ghana). She is also an advisory board member of the Swedish Armed Forces International Centre and a co-convenor and senior fellow of IFG 9 – Sustainable Regional Peacebuilding of the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa.

Some of her publications include “Democracy, Oil and Political Stability in West Africa: Pathways to Managing Contested Spaces” in The African Review 46 (2019) 292–308; “Implementation of the Duty of Care by the African Union” in A. de Guttry et al. (eds.), The Duty of Care of International Organizations Towards Their Civilian Personnel, 2018, T.M.C Asser Press; “Humanitarian Intervention” in Katharina P. Coleman and Thomas Tieku African Actors in International Security: Shaping Contemporary Norms, 2018; Lynne Reinner; “The African Standby Force: The African Union’s tool for the maintenance of peace and security” (2017) in Contemporary Security Policy  and “The African Union and the Phenomenon of Foreign Fighters in Africa” in A. de Guttry, F. Capone and C. Paulussen (eds), Foreign Fighters under International Law and Beyond. The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press, 2015. Chapter 19.