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Obituary: Dr Lisa Smirl

Global Studies staff have been paying tribute to Dr Lisa Smirl, who died last week aged 37, after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Dr Lisa SmirlDr Lisa Smirl

Dr Smirl was a Lecturer in International Security from 2009-12, when she took early retirement because of her developing illness.

Her PhD, completed at the University of Cambridge in 2010, focused on the spatial practices and built environment of international aid agencies, drawing not only on extensive fieldwork, but also on her own experience of working for the UN Development Programme in South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa.

Since arriving at Sussex, she was instrumental in setting up a new MA programme on Conflict, Security and Development as part of a significant expansion of the School of Global Studies’ engagement with international security issues. 

She was also pushing forward an exciting programme of research on humanitarian action and post-conflict intervention, including a focus on the spatial and cultural significance of the use of SUVs by aid workers in what she called "drive-by development". Her growing body of research demonstrated an extraordinary, creative and original mind at work.

Dr Smirl maintained an honorary lectureship in the Department after her early retirement in 2012, while also raising money for cancer charities and writing a moving blog about her experiences. That included taking part in the Great North Run to raise money for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation in November 2012, although the advanced stage of her cancer forced her to walk rather than run.

Professor Richard Black, Head of the School of Global Studies, said: “Lisa was a fantastic colleague and friend to many of us, a great teacher and researcher and truly inspirational in the way she dealt with her illness.”

Other staff have also paid tribute to a “much-loved colleague”.

Professor Justin Rosenberg, Head of International Relations, said: “Lisa was an outstanding colleague who shared her intellectual and personal vivacity with fellow-academics and students alike. Student feedback on her teaching regularly described her as a ‘fantastic lecturer … perfectly communicative … and extremely supportive of [students’] ideas and points of view’."

Dr Anna Stavrianakis, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, said: “Lisa was very much herself to the end – clever, cheerful, funny, uncomplaining. She lived her life, including her illness, to the full with a generosity of spirit that was quite remarkable.”

There are plans to hold a thanksgiving service on campus later this year.