Kathryn Fisher

At Johns Hopkins, Kathryn M. Fisher is the assistant program director and a senior lecturer for the MA in Global Security Studies and MS in Intelligence Analysis programs.

Fisher’s research focuses on intersections of security, identity, and insecurity. More specifically, she is currently researching the politics of food and security to explore how spatial and temporal configurations of identity are of constitutive causal significance for security dynamics. One project in this focus is based on the histories of Northern Ireland and Scotland and how competing identity claims, borders, and sovereignties become associated with violence or the absence of violence. Whether through historical conflicts, discourses around Brexit, or more recent debates over migration, these cases provide essential contexts through which to better understand how security and identity are interlinked through spatial and temporal configurations of (non)belonging. She views research and teaching as providing an essential and ongoing feedback loop of continued learning, with a strong dedication to the classroom, students, and advising in Global Security Studies and Intelligence Analysis, alongside all research pursuits.

Fisher earned a MA in international affairs from American University, a BA in geography and French from the University of Colorado, and a Diploma in Plant Based Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu London. She earned a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has been a visiting research fellow with King’s College London’s Department of War Studies.

Featured Works

• “Gruyère and Camembert—An Exploration into Food, Identity, and the Securitization of Cheese,” Kathryn Fisher, Gastronomica, May 2025
• “Wartime, professional military education, and politics,” Kathryn Fisher, International Relations, September 2022
• Security, Identity, and British Counterterrorism Policy, Kathryn Fisher, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

Media Mentions

“Kathryn Fisher: Cooking Up New Perspectives on Security,” On the Advance, April 2026