Dr Elise Boyle Espinosa, a former PhD candidate in CISRUL’s Political Concepts in the World (POLITICO) project, has joined the first Australian delegation to the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), popularly known for the ‘Rojava Revolution.’
Along with Australian Greens Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Inner West Councillor Ismet Tastan, and Kurdish community activist Baran Sogut, Elise travelled to the region in late September to hear about the gains made by the administration, and the mounting challenges it faces. As she described in a recent article, it is a ‘grassroots movement organised around the principles of pluralism and democracy, women’s liberation and ecology, and positioned in stark contrast to Islamic State and the Bashar al Assad-led Syrian regime’, but which currently faces opposition from the Syrian Transitional Government.
The delegation met with the co-chairs of the administration in Raqqa, foreign affairs officials, representatives of North and East Syria’s diverse communities, including the Syriac and Yezedi people, and various civil society organisations including the Zenobia Women’s Council in Raqqa. They also held events on their return, including a panel held in Sydney (posted to left).
Prior to her time at CISRUL, Elise conducted research on the education system established by DAANES, which later led to her PhD titled ‘Diversity of destinies’: The impact of Islamic State on higher education in Eastern Syria (2025). As a socially, economically, and politically marginalised region, she argued that a social ecology approach to resilience was essential for understanding and addressing ongoing challenges posed by Islamic State and within the Syrian education system more broadly. Whilst in Syria, Elise and Senator Shoebridge also travelled to Al-Roj camp, where the families of foreign Islamic State members are currently detained, to discuss the repatriation of women and children.
Outside of her role in academia she has been involved in campaigning related to Kurdish and minority rights in the region, with the delegation the culmination of this. Elise will also soon begin a role as a sessional academic at the School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland.
To read more about Elise’s work and to get in touch, visit her CISRUL profile here.