Fazal Wahab is a doctoral candidate in International, Political, and Strategic Studies at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra. His research is supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program. Prior to commencing his doctoral studies, Fazal completed an MA in Social Research at the University of York, UK, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), where he developed advanced expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.

An alumnus of the prestigious Erasmus Mundus+ programme, Fazal holds an International MA in Security, Intelligence, and Strategic Studies (funded by EU) from the University of Glasgow and its consortium universities in Ireland and Czech Republic. He has also undertaken specialised training in intelligence analysis at the University of Cambridge, UK, Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg (Germany), and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Norway. His research interests centre on conflict, counterterrorism, and civilian resistance in Pakistan, and he has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and presented at international academic conferences.

Beyond academia, Fazal brings significant practical experience in research and intelligence analysis, having worked with governmental and non-governmental organisations across Europe and Pakistan. He has served as a Researcher and Intelligence Analyst at a private firm in London, as a fellow at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OiiP) in Vienna – where he contributed to a project commissioned by the Austrian Defence Ministry – and as a research assistant on various academic projects. Fazal also has teaching experience in Pakistan, where he taught courses in Political Science, including Political Philosophy and International Humanitarian Law.

Research Interests

Fazal’s research is broad, but he is currently focusing on civilian protective and resistive agency in armed conflict, with a particular emphasis on Pakistan. This project aims to incorporate Indigenous and decolonial perspectives into peace and conflict studies — an area that remains underexplored in existing literature. By doing so, it seeks to deepen theoretical understandings of civilian agency, contribute to ongoing debates on civilian agency in armed conflict. Ultimately, this research aims to fill significant theoretical and empirical gaps in the literature by foregrounding local experiences and insights from conflict-affected regions.