Elizabeth Kunce

Elizabeth Kunce joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) in September 2019. Dr. Kunce has supported the DKI APCSS crisis management portfolio. She has also served as co-lead with Dr. Miyamoto on a multi-year effort to build an integrated network of practitioners to understand the risks and harms arising in the digital information environment. Dr. Kunce’s current focus of efforts is directed toward the development of concepts for societal resilience from the cognitive to community level.

Elizabeth has extensive experience working with the United States Department of Defense (US DoD) in civil-military coordination, training, and operational planning for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations across the US INDOPACOM region. Dr. Kunce worked at CFE-DMHA, a direct reporting unit of US INDOPACOM, from 2004-2011 and again from 2016-2019; during this time managed a variety of training programs and exercises, drafted policy recommendations and lessons learned reports, and supported numerous plans and real-world operations.

Dr. Kunce’s professional background also includes work with civilians and security actors across various operational settings, from gang-ridden communities to international disaster response operations. She has worked within the United States criminal justice system primarily in the areas of police reform, race, and police-community relations, as well as various local, state, and federal gang and gun violence interventions. During this time, Dr. Kunce worked closely with an international network of practitioners of Kingian Nonviolence and its application to domestic and international communities.

Dr. Kunce holds an MPA (2000) focusing on community planning from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (2015). Other professional work has included serving as a consultant for at-risk youth leadership programs, teaching at the university level, and serving as Executive Director for a Hawai’i–based nonprofit that provides care to human trafficking, torture, and immigrant domestic violence survivors in Hawai’i.