PRIOs Senior Researcher Jonas Vestby has been awarded a NOK 2 million grant to explore a radical new approach to conflict data. Current peace and conflict research relies on numerous datasets that often classify states, armed groups, and political relationships in different ways. These differences are rarely visible, making it difficult for researchers to compare and combine data reliably.
The Knowledge Graph Representations for Peace and Conflict Data (CGRAPH) project will use AI, language models, and knowledge graphs to make these hidden assumptions explicit. Rather than forcing datasets to agree, the project will represent competing definitions and classifications as structured, searchable information that reveals where datasets differ and why.
The grant comes from the Research Council of Norway’s Radical Research Ideas for Early Career Scientists scheme (under the FRIPRO portfolio), which is aimed at researchers who want to test particularly bold research ideas. If successful, the project could pave the way for a new generation of open, interconnected conflict data, improving transparency, reproducibility, and collaboration across peace and conflict research.
