Christianna PARR
Christianna Parr is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at SMU. She completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Washington, where she was the Duck Family Graduate Fellow at the Center for Environmental Politics and affiliated with the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences. Prior to joining SMU, she taught comparative politics, world politics and political methodology at the University of Washington, where she received the departmental teaching award. Her research has been published in Global Policy and is forthcoming in the Journal of Public Policy. Christianna’s commentary on environmental issues has been published in The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage.
Her research focuses on civil society and environmental politics in Southeast Asia. She is interested in the legitimacy of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and environmental NGOs in authoritarian and hybrid regimes. Christianna’s methodological work includes survey and conjoint experiments and machine learning. She is currently preparing a book-length project based on her dissertation, Shaping Civil Society: Media, Donors and Public Trust in Southeast Asian NGOs, and has several ongoing projects on social media communication, public attitudes toward AI use in the nonprofit sector, and environmental advocacy in the Southeast Asian region.
Qualifications
- PhD, Political Science, University of Washington, 2025
- MA in Political Science, University of Washington, 2018
- BA in Political Science, University of Washington, 2015
Research Areas and Areas of Expertise
Strategic Priorities
HighlightsBridges rigorous quantitative and computational methods with regionally grounded research on civil society, environmental governance, and public trust; recognized for methodological innovation and policy-relevant insights; awarded for teaching and research excellence; active in international scholarly networks and interdisciplinary collaborations.
Focused research areas include Examines the interplay between media, donors, and public trust in Southeast Asian NGOs; investigates the impact of social media on NGO legitimacy; explores public attitudes toward environmental NGOs, refugee issues, and energy transitions using survey and experimental methods; analyzes media perceptions of NGOs through computational approaches.
- Center for Environmental Politics grant, University of Washington ($330) 2024
- Graduate Travel Grant, University of Washington 2024
- Kizhanatham Jagannathan Graduate Research Grant for International Relations, University of Washington ($3000) 2021
- Richard B. Wesley Fellow in Environmental Politics and Graduate Chair of UW Center of Environmental Politics, Duck Family Colloquia Series 2019 - 2020
- Linden Mander Award for Best Graduate Paper in International Relations ($500) 2019
Showing up to 6 latest publications from the past 5 years.
- CS ParrGlobal Policy 16 (3), 442-453, 2025
- Does social media undermine trust? Institutional trust in civil society and governance institutions [2025]CS ParrJournal of Public Policy, 1-24, 2025
- CMS ParrUniversity of Washington, 2025
Christianna Parr is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at SMU. She completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Washington, where she was the Duck Family Graduate Fellow at the Center for Environmental Politics and affiliated with the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences. Prior to joining SMU, she taught comparative politics, world politics and political methodology at the University of Washington, where she received the departmental teaching award. Her research has been published in Global Policy and is forthcoming in the Journal of Public Policy. Christianna’s commentary on environmental issues has been published in The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage.
Her research focuses on civil society and environmental politics in Southeast Asia. She is interested in the legitimacy of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and environmental NGOs in authoritarian and hybrid regimes. Christianna’s methodological work includes survey and conjoint experiments and machine learning. She is currently preparing a book-length project based on her dissertation, Shaping Civil Society: Media, Donors and Public Trust in Southeast Asian NGOs, and has several ongoing projects on social media communication, public attitudes toward AI use in the nonprofit sector, and environmental advocacy in the Southeast Asian region.
Qualifications
- PhD, Political Science, University of Washington, 2025
- MA in Political Science, University of Washington, 2018
- BA in Political Science, University of Washington, 2015