Angelina Jolie Pitt will be joining the London School of Economics as a visiting professor to teach a new master’s degree course.
Jolie Pitt—an actress, director, and currently the UNHCR’s Special Envoy—is one of four new visiting professors who will contribute to the master’s program run by the Centre for Women, Peace and Security, which the university claims to be the first of its kind internationally. The course will build strategies to combat sexual violence in conflict.
As well as delivering guest lectures to students in the autumn of 2016, Jolie Pitt will be running workshops, public events, and carrying out her own research. The LSE is considered one of the best universities in the world.
“I am looking forward to teaching and to learning from the students, as well as to sharing my own experiences of working alongside governments and the UN, ” she said in a statement.
Jolie Pitt launched The Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative in 2012 alongside former UK foreign secretary William Hague to raise awareness of sexual violence, end the culture of impunity, and ensure survivors are better supported. Jolie Pitt also co-chaired the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2014, where world leaders discussed practical steps to tackle the use of rape as a weapon of war.
Sexual violence in conflict was also the subject of Jolie’s directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, a film about the mass rapes that occurred during 1992-5 Bosnian war. The UN estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 women (pdf) were raped during the conflict.