I use Field Experiments to study the Political Economy of Conflict

(CV updated July-2026)  

My research investigates how peacekeeping and international security interventions reshape social cohesion, local institutions, and political behavior in conflict-affected states. I use RCTs, survey experiments, and lab-in-the-field behavioral games across the Horn of Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa—where I maintain active fieldwork, most recently in Juba (2025), eastern DRC (May 2026), and Nepal (Aug 2026)—to examine the conditions under which these interventions generate lasting institutional and political change. My latest work extends this framework to investigate how climate change acts as a catalyst for conflict and displacement. You can explore my current research projects here, here, here, and here. I also teach a two-week Survey Experimental Design course at the Essex Summer School.

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science at New York University (2020) and an MA in International Security at Georgetown University (SFS, 2011). My work has been published in the APSR, AJPS, ISQ (x3), JPR and Defense and Peace Economics among others. I am an invited researcher with JPAL, research member with EGAP, research affiliate with the International Growth Centre (IGC), a primary researcher with Inclusion Economics Nepal, an Affiliated Researcher with the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (UCIGCC),  and a Fellow with the Institute for Integrated Development Studies Nepal.

Before academia, I had two professional backgrounds. I graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK and served in the Nepal Army (NA) for 14 years as a Combat Engineer Officer, mostly constructing roads and bridges in rural Nepal. During the Maoist Conflict, I shifted to Bomb Disposal Operations, focusing on removing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and also clearing all mine fields as part of the 2006 peace settlement with the Maoists (story by the UN). I served as a UN peacekeeper (blue helmet) on two occasions in the Congo (2003 & 2008). After taking voluntary retirement from the NA in 2009, I worked with UNDPKO, UNDP, UNU, the World Bank, and the Danish Refugee Council across Africa, the Middle East, Nepal and New York (recent coverage by Dep. of Peace Ops UN, p. 41). Alongside my research, I maintain an active portfolio of policy-engaged work. I supported UNDP Somalia and the Somali Ministry of Justice in measuring SDG 16.3 outcomes (2020–2024), UNOPS in Ukraine on their Mine Action Strategy (2024–2025), and most recently the UN with Somalia’s Article 5 Extension (2026).

Selected Recent Publications: 

  1. “Reintegration of Female Combatants and Children: Experimental Evidence from Somalia,”  (with B. Welsh), International Studies Quarterly 70, no. 3 (2026).
  2. “Why Protectors become Predators: The Logic of Civilian Abuse by Peacekeepers -Evidence from the African Union Peacekeepers in Somalia,” International Studies Quarterly (2025).
  3. “Social reintegration of former al-Shabaab militants: How formal channels help mitigate threat perceptions,” (with L. Gelot, SDU), Journal of Peace Research (2025).
  4. “Intrinsic Social Incentives in State and Non-State Armed Groups,” (with M. Gilligan and C. Samii (NYU), American Political Science Review (2023).