Visiting Fellows & Research Associates

DR. Pamina FIRCHOW 

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies

Pamina Firchow is Associate Professor of Coexistence and Conflict Resolution. She is interested in how the international community responds to conflicts and, in particular, how everyday people receive those interventions. Therefore she works on issues related to peacebuilding, transitional justice and reconciliation, as well as methodological questions related to measurement and monitoring and evaluation of international interventions in conflict-affected contexts. Professor Firchow's specific focus is on the role of concept formation in the measurement and evaluation of external interventions and how local people can be included in these processes.. Therefore, her work supports efforts that promote participatory numbers and mixed method research, such as the Everyday Peace Indicators, a major research program and 501c3 nonprofit working on participatory research and evaluation. The use of participatory statistics is used to make claims about the effectiveness of local level interventions after war in Firchow’s award winning monograph, Reclaiming Everyday Peace: Local Voices in Measurement and Evaluation after War (2018, Cambridge University Press). Firchow has published widely, including in top peer reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Transitional Justice, Sociological Methods and Research, PS Political Science, Action Research, International Studies Review, Human Rights Review, and Human Rights Practice. She regularly advises projects and programs within the World Bank, USIP, USAID, UN agencies and various non-profits globally. Professor Firchow completed her PhD in Development Studies at the Graduate Institute in 2009. 

Languages spoken:  English, German, Spanish, Italian
Contact: pfirchow@brandeis.edu, paminafirchow.org
 

Areas of expertise

• Conflict Response
• Peacebuilding & Reconciliation
• Development, cooperation and aid policies
• Human Security
• Measurement
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Localisation

ASHLEY JACKSON  

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies

Ashley Jackson is a co-director at the Centre on Armed Groups, an NGO focused of research and engagement with armed actors to reduce conflict and civilian suffering. Ashley’s research and policy work broadly focus on armed groups, conflict, peacebuilding, political economy, humanitarianism and international aid. She began her career as an aid worker in southeast Asia and Afghanistan, with the Red Cross, Oxfam and the UN. She has written widely on negotiating with armed groups and advised various UN agencies, NGOs and governments on humanitarian access and conflict mediation.

She has written extensively on the conflict in Afghanistan and the Taliban. Her first book, Negotiating Survival: Civilian-Insurgent Relations in Afghanistan (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2021), focuses on life under Taliban rule and the nature of civilian agency in wartime. She has also advised the UK Parliament, the US State Department and others on the Afghan war.

In addition to her academic and policy work, Ashley has written for Foreign Policy, the New York Times, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Politico, and others. Ashley holds a PhD from the War Studies Department at King’s College London, an MSc in Gender and Development from the London School of Economics.
 

Areas of expertise:

• Conflict and violence
• Armed groups and de facto authorities
• Humanitarian negotiations
• Humanitarian action
• Mediation and negotiation
• Civilian protection
• Peacebuilding

Jerome Drevon

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding; Senior Analyst at International Crisis Group, Research Advisor on the Sociology of Non-State Armed Groups at the International Committee of the Red Cross, Switzerland

Dr. Jérôme Drevon is senior analyst on Jihad and Modern Conflict at the International Crisis Group (ICG) and research associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) (Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding (CCDP). At ICG, he undertakes research and analysis on Islamist militancy across regions in collaboration with regional and country analysts. The program on Jihad in Modern Conflict provides an understanding of the local, regional and international trends affecting jihadist groups worldwide and the prospects of conflict resolution including through negotiations and engagement with militants.

Contact: jerome.drevon@graduateinstitute.ch
 

Areas of expertise

• Civil wars and insurgencies
• Comparative politics
• Contentious politics and political violence
• Institutional and organisational studies
• Islamist and jihadi movements
• Middle East politics
• Salafism
• Social movement studies
• Social network analysis

Alaa tartir

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding

Alaa Tartir is a research associate at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP). He is also the Academic Coordinator for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, Executive Master in Development Policies & Practices (DPP) Researcher and Program Lead at the Small Arms SurveyProgram Director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, a member of the Palestinian Strategic Thinking Group  Amongst other positions, Tartir was a post-doctoral fellow at The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), a visiting scholar and lecturer at Utrecht University, and a researcher in international development studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he earned his PhD. Tartir is the co-editor of Palestine and Rule of Power: Local Dissent vs. International Governance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and the author of Policing Palestine: Securitising Peace and Criminalising Resistance in the West Bank (Pluto Press, 2019).

Contact: alaa.tartir@graduateinstitute.ch and full profile.
 

Areas of expertise

• Political Economy of development and international aid
• State-building and governance in conflict-affected areas
• Security Sector Reform and securitized development
• Public Policy Analysis
• Political Economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory
• Palestinian politics, and Arab-Israeli conflict

Oliver Jütersonke 

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies 

Oliver Jütersonke is a research associate with the Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP), where he is a research partner on the Peace by Other Means? project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. He also teaches in the Graduate Institute's Executive Programme in Development Policies and Practices (DPP). Between 2008 and 2022, Oliver was CCDP Head of Research. 

Oliver’s current research agenda explores the complex linkages between humanitarian response, development cooperation, and peacebuilding; the security dynamics of urban and rapidly urbanising environments; and programming modalities that connect stabilisation efforts with social cohesion agendas and durable solutions for forced displacement. He serves as a strategic advisor, facilitator, and trainer for international organisations, national authorities, and civil society actors. His work centres on applied research skills, strategic foresight and anticipation, organisational learning, and the design and delivery of innovative mentoring initiatives for practitioner audiences.

Areas of Expertise

• Peacebuilding and the intersections of security and development, including stabilisation, durable solutions, and triple nexus programming;
• Social and spatial dynamics of urban violence, and their implications for security perceptions, institutional design, and security sector governance;
• Intellectual history of International Relations, especially its intersections with social science, law, and philosophy, and its foundations in political and legal realism;
• Epistemology and research methods in both foundational and applied projects across international affairs and development practice.

Annika Erickson-Pearson

Community Manager, Community of Practice on Environment, Climate, Conflict, and Peace (ECCP) & Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies

Annika Erickson-Pearson is a Swiss-based independent professional facilitator and community organizer. She currently manages two communities of practice, on environmental peacebuilding & on business and conflict. She also provides support to organizations as they build and animate their own communities of practice, coordinate multilateral policy processes, and manage knowledge and learning across the global system. Annika previously served as the Community Management Lead at the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. She has worked with nearly a dozen NGOs over the past ten years, including the Conference on World Affairs, Represent.Us, Run for Something, and the Global Campaign for Education, and as a coach for individuals navigating challenge. She holds a Master’s degree from the Geneva Graduate Institute and Bachelor’s from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Contact: aericksonpearson@gmail.com

Fritz Brugger

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies and Co-Director of the Center for Development and Cooperation (NADEL) at ETH Zurich

Fritz Brugger is co-director of NADEL at ETH Zurich and member of the “Swiss Minerals Observatory” Research Incubator at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP) at ETH Zurich. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. His research and teaching focuses on the governance and development outcomes of natural resource extraction, the political economy of international tax policy, and policy coherence for development.

Contact: fritz.brugger@nadel.ethz.ch
 

Areas of expertise

• Natural resource governance
• Illicit financial flows and the political economy of international tax policy
• Policy coherence for development
• Political economy of global governance

Mila Shutova

MA Researcher, Centre on Conflict Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, MA Candidate in International Relations and Political Science

Mila Shutova is an MA Researcher at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP), working on the State-building and the Global Practices of Security Sector Reform project. Mila holds an MA in International Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) /University of Sussex, a BA Honours degree in History from Queen’s University (Canada), and a diploma in International Security Management (CSMP M.ISMI, UK). Currently, as part of the MA in International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Mila focuses on security sector from the state and non-state perspectives in search of effective and sustainable solutions to current and future conflicts and security challenges through dialogue, cooperation, understanding, and awareness. The immersion in strategic analysis of international conflicts has highlighted the imminent demand for post-conflict reconstruction via new well-functioning global mechanisms, as well as re-examining of the post-colonial and post-Soviet perspectives. She is a corporate and humanitarian Security management advisor with diverse experience within iNGO, UN, public and private sectors in Canada, Eastern and Western Europe, Middle East, and Africa. As a member of International NGO Safety & Security Association’s Advisory Council Mila is supporting the mission to improve security risk management in the humanitarian aid and development sector.

Spoken Languages: English, French, Russian, Ukrainian
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mila-s-52484110/

 

Research Interests

• Non-State Security Actors
• Security Sector Reform
• Peacebuilding and Reconstruction
• Conflict Resolution
• Armed Conflict

Miguel Mikelli L. A. Ribeiro

Visiting Fellow, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies.

Miguel Mikelli L. A. Ribeiro is a Professor of International Relations at the Political Science Department of the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil), teaching undergrad and graduate students. He has held visiting researcher positions at institutions such as the European University Institute in Florence and Leiden University in the Netherlands. He was also a fellow at the Civil War Paths Project, led by The Centre for the Comparative Study of Civil War (University of York).

Dr. Ribeiro's research interests are reflected in his publications, including articles in journals such as Global Responsibility to Protect, Global Society, and International Peacekeeping. His current research project is about the role of the Global South in Conflict Management, focusing on Brazilian engagement vis-à-vis other nations. He was awarded a scholarship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to conduct the project.
 

Areas of expertise

• Responsibility to Protect
• International Human Rights
• Peacekeeping operations
• The use of force
• International conflicts

Brian Ganson

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding and Professor and Head of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement, University of Stellenbosch Business School 

Brian Ganson holds a Juris Doctorate (with honors) from Harvard Law School, a Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Arts in European Studies (with high distinction) from the University of Michigan. Mr. Ganson has broad experience developing and delivering executive education programmes for diplomats, business executives, and civil society leaders through Harvard Law School and other leading institutions. In his consulting work he advises organizations operating in particularly challenging environments.

Contact: brian@ganson.org 
 

Areas of expertise

• Business engagement in fragile environments
• Organizational capabilities for effective engagement in post-conflict and other complex environments
• The impact of donor policy, priorities, and recipient relations on the effectiveness of local efforts at the intersection of peacebuilding and development
• Rights compatible, interest-based approaches to the settlement of company/community conflicts

Robert watkins

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies

Robert joined the CCDP after a 35-year career working for international organisations in political, humanitarian, development and post-conflict recovery areas in some 13 different countries, principally in the Middle East, Central, and South Asia.  He served for the United Nations as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General in Lebanon (2011-2014) and Afghanistan (2009-2011) at the level of Assistant Secretary General, as well as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Bangladesh (2015-17), Djibouti (2014), and Georgia (2006-2009). Since retiring from the UN at the end of 2017, he has taught as a Practitioner at the Graduate Institute and at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and presented papers on Conflict Prevention at AUB, Lebanon, and the University of Tianjin, China. He holds an MA in International Affairs from the Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa. He was a contributor to the Action Learning for Conflict Analysis (ALCA) project on “Promoting System-Wide Analytical Capabilities across the Triple Nexus.” 

Contact: robert.watkins@graduateinstitute.ch
 

Areas of expertise

• New approaches to Peacebuilding
• Role of Land Ownership in conflict settlement
• Digital literacy in the Prevention of Violent Extremism
• Mediation
• Role of the UN in World Politics, Conflict Prevention & Peacekeeping

Annette Idler

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Programme (Pembroke College) and Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, UK

Dr Annette Idler is the Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Programme, Pembroke College, and Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. She holds a doctorate from the Department of International Development and St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford and a MA in International Relations from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Dr Idler’s work focuses on the interface of conflict, security, transnational organized crime and peacebuilding, and the role that violent non-state actors play in these dynamics.

Contact: annette.idler@politics.ox.ac.uk
 

Areas of expertise

• Interactions and trends among violent non-state actors
• Nexus of conflict, security and transnational organised crime
• Illicit drug trade and drug policy
• Conflict prevention and peacebuilding
• Borderlands
• Colombia's armed conflict and citizen security in Latin America

Masayo Kondo Rossier

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies

Masayo worked with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) from August 1995 until May 2022. She covered geographical desks (Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific) as well as emergency preparedness, capacity development, and policy, leading up to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the SDGs in 2015. Before joining OCHA in Geneva, she worked with the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) in Japan, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Japan and in Paraguay, and with the UN Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) as electoral officer monitoring the first presidential election following the peace accord. In 2010-2011, Masayo spent her UN Sabbatical Programme period at the CCDP, which led to Linking Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding (CCDP Working Paper No. 7). She then completed a second master’s degree in international relations and political science at IHEID in 2014. Beforehand, she received an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University in 1990s.

In 2014, she started a capacity development seminar for OCHA staff with the UN System Staff College (UNSSC), entitled, “Conflict Analysis for linking Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding (CAHAPB)” and the following seminar with CCDP. This was the precursor to the Action Learning for Conflict Analysis (ALCA) project. She contributed to the first and second phase of ALCA. She is currently working on a follow-up project to ALCA, focusing on community engagement.

Contact: masayo.kondo@graudateinstitute.ch
 

Areas of expertise
 

• Humanitarian-development-peace nexus
• Humanitarian civil-military coordination (UN-CMCoord)
• Conflict analysis as a tool to link humanitarian action and peace & security concerns
• Emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction
• SDG 16

Robert Muggah

Research Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Research Director of the Igarapé Institute and Professor at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

Dr. Robert Muggah is the Research Director of the Igarapé Institute, a Principal of the SecDev Group, and a professor at the Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. From Brazil he directs several projects on international cooperation, peace-support operations, transnational organized crime, citizen security and violence prevention, and humanitarian action in non-war settings across Latin America and the Caribbean. He currently oversees the humanitarian action in situations other than war (HASOW) project, the States of Fragility project, and the Urban Resilience project. He also advises the High Level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda. Dr. Muggah received his DPhil at Oxford University and his MPhil at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex.

Contact:  robert.muggah@graduateinstitute.ch
 

Areas of expertise

• Security promotion and armed violence reduction in complex environments
• Risks and responses to population displacement and resettlement
• State-building, stabilization and fragility and the political economy of securitization
• Urbanisation and forms of institutional resilience

Djacoba liva tehindrazanarivelo

Research Associate at the Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies

Djacoba Liva Tehindrazanarivelo holds a PhD in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, a Certificate of the Centre for Studies and Research of the Hague Academy of International Law, and a Maîtrise in Public Law and Political Science from the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. For the past 16 years he has been teaching Public International Law, international organizations, UN peace mechanism, human rights, conflict resolution, the Responsibility to protect, and the law and practices of law in Africa – at the Graduate Institute, Boston University Study Abroad Geneva, the Institute for Human Rights (Catholic University of Lyon) and at University of Geneva. As a practitioner, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Madagascar (January 2020 – August 2021); he is also a member of the France-Madagascar Mixed Claims Commission relating to the dispute over islands off the West coast of Madagascar (since November 2019), and has conducted consultancies with various international organizations.

Dr. Tehindrazanarivelo is author of two books on the unintended effects of United Nations sanctions and on racism against migrants in Europe. He has moreover co-edited four other books, and published articles on a variety of topics in International Law, African Union Law, peace and security, human rights, and the fight against impunity.
 

Areas of expertise

• United Nations law, sanctions, and peace mechanisms
• African Union law, and the African peace and security architecture
• Democratic governance and unconstitutional changes of government
• Regional organizations in Southern and Eastern Africa, and the Indian Ocean
• Critical analyses of law and practices of law in Africa
• Uncomplete decolonization processes
• Diplomatic law and practice
• Human rights training and migrants’ rights