Research Interests
I have a wide range of research interests, which can be divided in to three main categories.
The first category is related to conflict data and trends. In particular I'm interested in seeking to find what hidden stories the data tell us. Further, I have also worked extensively on ceasefires and non-state conflicts.
The second category is human consequences of conflicts. This entails research on inequalities, aid efficiency, maternal and child health, education, sexual violence and in particular children in conflict.
Finally, a large share of my research is devoted to natural resources and environment. I have looked at the resource curse, natural resource management in post-conflict, EITI, climate change, and conflicts related to new energy projects and climate mitigation projects such as REDD+
Background
Languages spoken:
English, Norwegian
Selected work experience:
Research Director, Conditions for Violence and Peace, PRIO From February 2021
Researche Professor, Conditions for Violence and Peace, PRIO 2020-present
Senior Researcher, Conditions for Violence and Peace, PRIO 2012-2020
Researcher/PhD candidate at PRIO (2008-2012)
Research Assistant at PRIO for Nils Petter Gleditsch and Scott Gates (November 2005- December 2007)
Coordinator for PRIO’s Peace Research Course at the International Summer School at Blindern (Summer 2006)
Project Coordinator for North Caucasus, Building Peaces
Teaching statistical method and software (MA-level) – Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Science (2012-2018)
Education:
2008-2012: PhD (Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
2002-2005: Cand.polit. (Political Science from NTNU, Reading University, and PRIO)
1998-2001: Cand.mag. (Political Science, History and Macro Economics, from NTNU and Charles University, Praha)
Selected fellowships and awards:
‘Conflict Trends’, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Project leader (NOK 3 million yearly) (2016-2023)
‘Green Curses’, Research Council of Norway, Norglobal, Project leder (NOK 6 million) (2020-2023)
‘Development Aid, Effectiveness, and Inequalities in Conflict-Affected Societies’, Research Council of Norway, FRIPRO, Project deputy (NOK 9 million) (2017-2019)
‘From a Curse to a Blessing? Transparency and Accountability in Managing High-Value Natural Resource Revenues’, Research Council of Norway, collaborator FRIPRO (NOK 7 million) (2014-2017)
‘The social, economic and political impacts of the extractive industries in Brazil: The case of Hydro and the Barcarena region in Pará’, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Project leader (NOK 2.4 million) (2014-2016)
‘Female Empowerment in Eastern DRC’, Research Council of Norway, NORGLOBAL Division, collaborator (NOK 5 million) (2014-2016)
‘Conflict Trends’, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Project deputy (NOK 11.4 million) (2013-2016)
Blog Posts
A staggering 72 million children—17% of the 426 million children living in conflict areas globally, or 1 in 6—are living near armed groups that have been reported to perpetrate sexual violence against children. That means 3% of all children in the world are living at risk for sexual violence in ... Read more »
Posted by Kendra Dupuy & Siri Camilla Aas Rustad on Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Welcome to the new Green Curses project blog series “Energy Transitions and Conflict”! We write about research, news, policy interventions, events, and other items of interest that pertain to the social, political, and economic dynamics underlying the often contentious implementation of renewable energy projects. We focus especially on the potential ... Read more »
In December of last year, the Chinese state jailed a physician in the city of Wuhan. His crime? Attempting to warn authorities against the occurrence of a potentially contagious and deadly new virus. The physician, Dr. Li Wenliang, has since died from the same disease whose spread he tried to ... Read more »
This piece is part of our blog series Beyond the COVID Curve. COVID-19 has quickly changed everything from our daily routines, to the policies of governments, to the fortunes of the global economy. How will it continue to shape society and the conditions for peace and conflict globally in the near ... Read more »
Inequality fosters violent conflict, which again causes inequality, triggering a vicious cycle. In December the UN Development Programme (UNDP) released its annual ‘Human Development Report’. For 2019 the report focused on inequality. The report is being launched as nightly news is dominated by pictures of protests in countries like Lebanon, Iraq, Chile and Hong Kong. These ... Read more »
Posted by Júlia Palik, Govinda Clayton, Simon J. A. Mason & Siri Camilla Aas Rustad on Wednesday, 23 October 2019
On the surface, it should be easy. Practitioners and policy makers always require better knowledge to make informed decisions, and academics (nearly) always seek that their research makes an impact in the “real” world. Yet this rarely works out. In most cases academic-practice-policy dialogues, forums, meetings and conferences rarely produce ... Read more »
Peter Wallensteen, interviewed by Siri Aas Rustad PRIO was the engine of our Nordic peace research network. To ‘go to PRIO’ meant to be updated on the state of the art, to find out what was going on. The ideas generated could then be taken back home and used to ... Read more »
In my last Game of Thrones blog post I looked into whether there were any similarities between the War of the Five Kings and modern war in the real world. I found a surprisingly large number of similarities. Now that we have seen the end GoT, and we know who ... Read more »
Are there any similarities between the bloody war in Game of Thrones (GoT) and modern conflicts? The battle fields are certainly quite different, and dragons have very little to do with today’s conflicts (although they may allude to weapons of mass destruction). However, if we look beyond the fighting and ... Read more »
In 2017, approximately 90,000 people died as the direct result of armed conflict. This figure is down for the third year in a row, and is now 31 percent lower than in 2014. Nearly a third of all conflicts – and four of the 10 most serious wars worldwide – ... Read more »
This weekend, decision-makers from all over the world will come together to discuss current and future security challenges at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which has become the major global forum for discussion of security policy. At the conference, Save the Children will launch its new report The War on ... Read more »
On the night between 14 and 15 April, 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram from their school in Chibok in Borno State in Northeastern Nigeria. The Islamist terrorist group does not believe that girls should attend school, and these girls were targeted precisely because they were in school. However, conservative views on gender and education is only ... Read more »
Posted by Ukoha O. Ukiwo & Siri Camilla Aas Rustad on Monday, 16 February 2015
On 14 February, the population of Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, were supposed to go to the polls to elect a new president. This election might have proven a watershed in Nigerian history. For the first time, the opposition had a realistic opportunity to take over from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ... Read more »