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Welcome to my personal webpage. I am an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Politics and IR at the University of York and the founder and convener of the Politics After War Network (PAW-scholars). I am currently the Director of School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at the University of York. 

My main research interests lie at the intersection of politics and international relations with a particular focus on the comparative state-building, post-war politics and peacebuilding, rebel group political transformation and DDR. My research is comparative in nature, with primary research conducted in South and Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia (Aceh), Timor Leste, Sri Lanka, and more recently in Bangsamoro in the Philippines, as well as in Southeast Europe (Bosnia and Kosovo). See publications, books and policy for more information on outputs and policy engagement.

I am currently leading a new project Negotiating armed groups’ political transitions drawing on a number of case studies and fieldwork in Bangsamoro in the Philippines, funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA). I am also working on a second project – the Mass Atrocities Resistance Project – funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and based at the Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Minorities Studies, in which we seek to identify and understand the strategies threatened groups employ to protect themselves against atrocities, and how these groups may be able to mobilise support domestically or internationally.

I previously held a Marie Sklodowska Individual Fellowship at the University of Cambridge with the project on Post-Conflict Political Parties.

I regularly work with policy makers and practitioners in the fields of DDR, peacebuilding, mediation and democracy support and have consulted on several such programmes and projects over the years. I am member of the Integrated DDR Training Group, have worked with the UN Department of Peace Operations alongside several international and governmental agencies. See policy tab for recent policy engagements and publications.

My research has been funded by the European Commission, the Norwegian Research Council, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the Philomathia Foundation, Westminster Foundation for Democracy alongside several smaller grants and awards.