Dr Sarah Teitt

Senior Lecturer & Senior Lecturer

School of Political Science and International Studies

Director, Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

+61 7 334 66443

s.teitt@uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

Dr Sarah Teitt is Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland.

Her expertise centres on the intersection of atrocity prevention, civilian protection, and peacebuilding in the Asia Pacific region, with a particular interest in China's impact and evolving roles in these areas. Her work has been published in journals such as Cooperation and Conflict, International Peacekeeping, the Australian Journal of International Affairs, Survival, the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, and Global Governance. She is co-editor of the volumes China-North Korea Relations: Between Development and Security (2020) and Responsibility to Protect and Women, Peace and Security: Aligning the Protection Agendas (2013), and she currently serves on the editorial team of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. From 2019 to 2025, she was an Australian Research Council DECRA Senior Research Fellow.

Sarah's work is grounded in a commitment to ensuring research is relevant, accessible, and useful for improving atrocity prevention policy and practice. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering training, executive education and policy dialogue programs, including for the United Nations (UN) Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, UN Women, the UN Staff System College, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, as well as numerous government-affiliated think tanks and research institutes across the Asia Pacific region.

She was founder and lead convenor of the annual Australia-China Dialogue on the Responsibility to Protect from 2014-2020, co-hosted by the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the China Institute of International Studies--a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In 2016, Sarah co-founded the Asia Pacific Partnership for Atrocity Prevention (APPAP), an alliance of organizations from across the Asia Pacific region working toward the prevention of atrocity crimes and the protection of vulnerable populations. From 2017-2020, she served as the Co-Chair of APPAP's Gender Working Group, and currently is the lead convenor of the APPAP Secretariat.

Publications

Book Chapters (11)

Journal Articles (11)

Conference Papers (3)

Thesis (1)

Research Reports (8)

Generic Documents (4)

Newspaper Articles (2)

Book Chapters

Teitt, Sarah (2020). Resistance and accommodation in China’s approach toward R2P. Constructing the Responsibility to Protect: Contestation and Consolidation. (pp. 149-167) edited by Charles T. Hunt and Phil Orchard. Abingdon, Oxon United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429352430-8

Teitt, Sarah (2020). China’s developmental peace and North Korea’s security challenges. China–North Korea relations: between development and security. (pp. 25-49) edited by Catherine Jones and Sarah Teitt. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781788979702.00010

Teitt, Sarah and Jones, Catherine (2020). Conclusion. China–North Korea relations. (pp. 197-206) edited by Catherine Jones and Sarah Teitt. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781788979702.00019

Jones, Catherine and Teitt, Sarah (2020). Introduction: China and North Korea: between development and security. China–North Korea relations. (pp. 1-23) edited by Catherine Jones and Sarah Teitt. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781788979702.00008

Teitt, Sarah (2017). Sovereignty as responsibility. The globalization of international society. (pp. 325-344) edited by Tim Dunne and Christian Reus-Smit. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198793427.003.0017

Teitt, Sarah (2016). Asia Pacific and South Asia. The Oxford handbook of the responsibility to protect. (pp. 373-390) edited by Alex Bellamy and Tim Dunne. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Teitt, Sarah (2016). Is human security a solution?. Asia-Pacific security: an introduction. (pp. 241-258) edited by Joanne Wallis and Andrew Carr. Washington, DC, United States: Georgetown University Press.

Teitt, Sarah (2014). China and the international human rights regime. The Globalization of World Politics: Case Studies from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific. (pp. 108-110) edited by Charles Hawkesly and Nichole Georgiou. South Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.

Davies, Sara E., Nwokora, Zim, Stamnes, Eli and Teitt, Sarah (2013). Introduction: The responsibility to protect: a principle for the women, peace and security agenda?. Responsibility to protect and women, peace and security: aligning the protection agendas. (pp. 1-6) edited by Sara E. Davies, Zim Nwokora, Eli Stamnes and Sarah Teitt. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.

Teitt, Sarah (2012). The responsibility to protect and China's peacekeeping policy. China’s evolving approach to peacekeeping. (pp. 56-70) edited by Marc Lanteigne and Miwa Hirono. London, U.K.: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203718803

Teitt, Sarah (2012). Paper tiger or platform for action? South Asia and the responsibility to protect. The Routledge handbook of the responsibility to protect. (pp. 197-215) edited by W. Andy Wright and Frazer Egerton. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Journal Articles

Teitt, Sarah (2025). Israel, Gaza, and the unrealised promise of the Responsibility to Protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, 17 (4), 394-400. doi: 10.1163/1875984X-20250014

Teitt, Sarah (2024). R2P in Uncertainty: A Response to Hobson. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 18 (2), 191-196. doi: 10.1080/17502977.2024.2318899

Barber, Rebecca and Teitt, Sarah (2021). Legitimacy and centrality under threat: the case for an ASEAN response to human rights violations against the Rohingya. Asian Politics and Policy, 13 (4), 471-492. doi: 10.1111/aspp.12602

Barber, Rebecca and Teitt, Sarah (2020). The Rohingya crisis: can ASEAN salvage its credibility?. Survival, 62 (5), 41-54. doi: 10.1080/00396338.2020.1819642

Teitt, Sarah (2017). The responsibility to protect and China's U.N. peacekeeping policy. The Journal of International Studies, 4, 68-84.

Dunne, Tim and Teitt, Sarah (2015). Contested intervention: China, India, and the responsibility to protect. Global Governance, 21 (3), 371-391. doi: 10.1163/19426720-02103003

Davies, Sara E., Teitt, Sarah and Nwokora, Zim (2014). Bridging the gap: early warning, gender and the responsibility to protect. Cooperation and Conflict, 50 (2), 228-249. doi: 10.1177/0010836714545689

Davies, Sara E., Nackers, Kimberly and Teitt, Sarah (2014). Women, peace and security as an ASEAN priority. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 68 (3), 333-355. doi: 10.1080/10357718.2014.902030

Davies, Sara E. and Teitt, Sarah (2012). Engendering the responsibility to protect: women and the prevention of mass atrocities. Global Responsibility to Protect, 4 (2), 198-222. doi: 10.1163/187598412X639700

Teitt, Sarah (2011). The responsibility to protect and China's peacekeeping policy. International Peacekeeping, 18 (3), 298-312. doi: 10.1080/13533312.2011.563085

Teitt, S. (2009). Assessing Polemics, Principles and Practices: China and the Responsibility to Protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, 1 (2), 208-236. doi: 10.1163/187598409X424306

Conference Papers

Teitt, Sarah E. (2013). Humanity and hegemony in China's humanitarian discourse. ISA San Francisco 2013: 54th International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA, USA, 3-6 April, 2013.

Teitt, Sarah (2011). Promoting the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Northeast Asia: Institutional limitations, ad hoc opportunities. International Studies Association Annual Convention ISA 2011, Montreal, Canada, 16-19 March 2011.

Teitt, Sarah (2011). The paradox of Chinese peacekeeping. International Studies Association Annual Convention, Montreal, Canada, 16-19 March 2011.

Thesis

Teitt, Sarah (2015). The responsibility to protect and responsible power: explaining China’s acquiescence to international intervention to protect Libyan populations in 2011. PhD Thesis, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2015.790

Research Reports

Marczak, Nikki, Ouyang, Xuwan and Teitt, Sarah (2025). A “forgotten crisis” escalating in Myanmar: assessing atrocity risks for 2025 and beyond. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/0c466be

Teitt, Sarah , Bronitt, Simon , Dunn, Michelle , Duriesmith, David , Zarrabi, Behnaz , Vogel, Lauren , Ryan, Luisa and Zimmerman, Shannon (2020). Training: Gender and Preventing Violent Extremism in Asia: Participant Workbook. Bangkok, Thailand: UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

Sarah Teitt (2019). Centralising gender in atrocity prevention. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Teitt, Sarah (2016). China and the responsibility to protect. R2P IDEAS in Brief Brisbane, Australia: Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Teitt, Sarah (2014). China and the International Humanitarian Order. R2P Ideas in Brief Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Teitt, Sarah (2014). ASEAN and the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict and Humanitarian Situations: From Commitment to Practical Action in Southeast Asia . R2P Ideas in Brief Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Teitt, Sarah and Davies, Sara (2013). Realizing commitments to women, peace and security in Southeast Asia. R2P Ideas in Brief Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Teitt, Sarah (2008). China and the responsibility to protect. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Generic Documents

Teitt, Sarah (2023). Controversies over R2P are not just controversies over R2P. Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Teitt, Sarah (2020). Empowering women and centralising gender in atrocity prevention: insights from the Asia Pacific Partnership for Atrocity Prevention. Fresh Perspectives, European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Teitt, Sarah (2017). Reading Room: Sovereignty and Responsibility to Protect. Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Teitt, Sarah (2014). Women's empowerment and atrocity prevention. e-international relations.

Newspaper Articles

Barber, Rebecca and Teitt, Sarah (2020, 06 17). ASEAN Summit: A chance to engage on the Rohingya crisis The Interpreter 1-1.

Teitt, Sarah (2014, 11 11). Women's empowerment and atrocity prevention e-International Relations

Areas of research

International Relations

Peace and Conflict Studies