Student Profile: Merima Tricic

Merima Tricic

Name: Merima Tricic

Email address: mtricic@lawnet.uci.edu

Dual/concurrent degree you pursued: J.D./Ph.D. in Urban Planning/Public Policy

Graduation year: 2026

Research interests/agenda: My research interests are centered around activism and peacebuilding policy processes surrounding sexual violence reparations in Bosnia. I first examine how narratives frame policy issues and survivor identities about reparations and justice. Second, I examine how narratives are used to embody the experiences of survivors in navigating legalistic invited spaces and invented spaces provided in grassroot organizations. Third, I examine how narratives are used to mobilize individuals in memorializing urban spaces with histories of gendered violence as a form of legal reparations. 

Past Education: I graduated from UCLA in 2016 with bachelor's degrees in political science, the study of religion, and world arts/cultures. I graduated from Brandeis with an MA in political science in 2019. I advanced to candidacy in the PhD program in the spring of 2022. 

Academic Experiences, Awards and Honors: I have served as a teaching assistant to numerous courses in the urban planning department that are centered on conflict and urban planning. Additionally, I have received the below multiple research grants and awards in the past few years. 

  • GPACS Research Award, 2022: UCI

  • Mentoring Award, 2022: UCI Department of Urban Planning/Public Policy

  • Initiative to End Family Violence Graduate Student Fellow, 2021: UCI

  • BAPA Scholarship Award, 2021: BAPA

  • Organizational Studies Grant, 2021: UC Irvine

  • Small Change, Better World Grant, 2021: UC Irvine

  • Graduate Teaching Award, 2020: UC Irvine

  • DTEI Online Course Development Fellowship, 2020: UCI Law

Employment/Career Highlights (positions, internships, externships, clerkships):

In 2021, I recieved the Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation grant and I worked with Medica Zenica to provide workshops for survivors of sexual violence to learn to use social media tools for the purpose of selling their goods and sharing their narratives. I have interned with TRIAL and volunteered for a multitude of grassroot organizations such as the War Childhood Museum and the Foundation for Local Democracy in Bosnia. I also work as a research analyst for HEART, which is an organization focused on addressing gendered violence and reproductive justice for the most impacted Muslims in North America. 

What made you interested in pursuing dual degrees?

I have always wanted to pursue a JD due to my dedication to issues such as sexual violence, child abuse, and human rights violations in conflict after having witnessed the impact of war on my family as the daughter of former war refugees. Upon entering the PhD program at UC Irvine, I was informed about the JD program and I began to work as a senior fellow at the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy.  Since 2020, I have worked on numerous projects regarding abortion rights and child marriage laws in California. I also have worked with TRIAL’s office in Bosnia, where I assisted lawyers in researching the needs of sexual violence survivors in Bosnia. My PhD research is grounded in working with survivor-led/initiated organizations and lawyers in the pursuit of recognition of sexual violence and in the establishment of memorials as an element of post-war reparations. I also work as an analyst and researcher with HEART, which is an organization dedicated to providing information about resources for survivors and  in providing one of the first comprehensive studies about the prevalence of sexual violence in Muslim American communities. 

Full CV >