Curriculum Vitae

Jennifer Giroux is a professional researcher with a background in anthropology and security. She currently works with the Risk & Resilience Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zürich in Switzerland where she is a Senior Researcher and heads a research project that analyzes the vulnerability of energy infrastructure (EI). The project partners have included the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). In addition to developing the Energy Infrastructure Attack Database (EIAD) to analyze global trends in EI targeting. Jennifer has also carried out field research – mainly in Nigeria but also to Colombia and Liberia. In support of her research in the Niger Delta, she is an Associate Research Fellow for the Centre for Niger Delta Studies at the Niger Delta University and an advisor to the Institute for Dispute Resolution (IDR) (both in the Niger Delta). She is also a member of the ASIS Petrochemical, Chemical & Extractive Industry Security Council. Prior to CSS, Jennifer held posts with organizations such as the United Nations Al-Qaida and Taliban (1267) Sanctions Committee, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), and the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS). 


Her PhD project builds off of her time spent in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria where she examined tensions between communities and the oil and gas industry. For the PhD she will delve deeper by analyzing to what degree social spaces have been impacted and shaped by violence in the Niger Delta. This includes looking at the role of the social actors and how they have enabled, constrained, or rejected violence.

Focus in Research

Research Areas: oil industry, resource conflicts, social space, social imaginaries

Regional Focus: West Africa, in particular Nigeria

Field Research: Nigeria (2010-2012, various field visits), shorter trips to Ghana (2013), Liberia (2012) and Colombia (2012)