She serves as Director of Graduate Studies at St Catherine's School of Geography and the Environment. [4] She is an editorial board member for several peer reviewed journals and serves on the Board of Directors of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation based in Belgium as well as the Tibet Justice Center in California. [1] [5]
Research
McConnell's work examines changing political geographies, such as that of Tibet, and the resulting diplomatic role of its stateless people, particularly at the United Nations, and the ways they make their voices heard. She uses the phrase "liminal geopolitics" [6] to describe a threshold of political subjectivity, and bringing together theories about performance, rhetoric and emotional labor, and the barriers faced by stateless actors attempting to engage in diplomacy. Working with other researchers, she has examined the notion of a right to diplomacy, diaspora diplomacy, spatial dynamics of diplomacy, digital mediation and the teaching of diplomacy. [1] [6]
For one project, "Postcolonial African States, 1957–1997," she participated in analyzing the geopolitical dynamics of four decades of diplomatic training of individuals tasked with representing African states that had become newly independent. The research included a focus on the networks and power relations of novice diplomats. [7]
In collaboration with the University of Central Asia and the Independent Research Institute of Mongolia (IRIM) McConnell investigated and helped develop a framework for sustainable infrastructure development through large scale mining activities in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan. [8]
