Research Interests
- Armed conflict and maternal health
- Sexual and gender-based violence
- Education and conflict
- Horizontal inequalities and conflict
- Urban violence
Background
Languages spoken:
Norwegian, English, Spanish, basic French.
Working experience:
2021–: Research Director, Conditions of Violence and Peace, PRIO.
2019–: Research Professor, Conditions of Violence and Peace, PRIO.
2019–2020: Visiting Researcher at the Center for International Development & Conflict Management, University of Maryland.
2019–: Deputy Editor, Journal of Peace Research.
2017–2019 : Editor-in-chief,
Journal of Peace Research.
2010–2019: Senior Researcher, Conditions of Violence and Peace, PRIO.
2015–2017: Associate Editor, Journal of Peace Research.
2010–2014: Deputy Editor,
Journal of Peace Research.
2006: Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security (CRISE), University of Oxford.
2005: Book Review Editor
Journal of Peace Research.
2005–2010: Phd Candidate/Research Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo
(Maternal leave April-December, 2006; September 2008-May 2009; and March-December 2012).
2005–2010: Researcher (part-time), Centre for the Study of Civil War, PRIO.
2004: Research Assistant, Centre for the Study of Civil War, PRIO.
2003–2004: Norwegian Red Cross Youth Delegate to Kenya Red Cross Society.
Education:
PhD, Political Science, University of Oslo, 2011.
Cand. Polit (equiv. MA), Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 2003.
Cand.Mag (equiv. to B.A), NTNU and Universidad de Granada (Spain), 2001 in the areas of Political Science, English, Media Science and Psychology.
Blog Posts
Today Save the Children launches its new report Stop the War on Children: The Forgotten Ones. The report is based on PRIO’s sixth annual mapping of children in armed conflict covering the period 1990-2021. In 2021 our estimates suggest that 449 million children, or more than 1 out of 6 ... Read more »
After a declining trend since 2014 for the number of people killed in armed conflict, approximately 84,000 people died last year. Since 2014, we have seen a global declining trend for the number of people killed in armed conflict, but in 2021 this trend experienced a sharp reversal. New figures ... Read more »
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, food insecurity and food prices have become increasingly concerning. However, the focus has largely been on the consequences of war for the international market and food insecurity abroad, leaving less attention to the lack of food among civilians in Ukraine. Ukrainians have fled their ... Read more »
Женщины – “неотъемлемая часть своей страны и её сопротивления”. С таким посланием Катерина Черепаха, президент организации “Ла Страда – Україна”, обратилась к миру в своём апрельском выступлении в Совете Безопасности ООН.. В своей речи она также подчеркнула возросшую незащищённость женщин и девочек в отношении угрозы похищения, пыток и убийства. Теперь ... Read more »
Жінки є «невід’ємною частиною країни та її опору» – з таким посланням звернулася до світу президент організації «Ла Страда-Україна» Kaтeринa Чeрeпaхa, виступаючи перед Радою Безпеки ООН у квітні. У своєму виступі вона також підкреслила високу вразливість жінок і дівчат щодо загроз викрадення, катувань та вбивств. Тепер ми знаємо, що жінки ... Read more »
Women are an “integral part of her country and its resistance.” This was the message that Kateryna Cherepakha, President of the organization La Strada-Ukraine, communicated to the world when speaking before the UN Security Council in April. Her speech also highlighted increased vulnerability of women and girls to the threat ... Read more »
Posted by Gudrun Østby, Olga Shemyakina, Andreas Forø Tollefsen, Henrik Urdal & Marijke Verpoorten on Monday, 14 February 2022
We examined more than 200,000 records in 15 African countries. As more coronavirus vaccines begin to reach the developing world, global health authorities are pointing out the need for other vaccines as well. UNICEF recently launched a record $9.4 billion emergency appeal to help more than 327 million people — including 177 million children — affected ... Read more »
The recruitment and use of children as soldiers is one of the United Nations Security Council’s ‘six grave violations’ against children in times of war, as well as one of the most significant consequences of armed conflict in terms of children’s wellbeing. On 30 November, Save the Children launched its ... Read more »
On Friday October 30, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the protection of education in conflict zones. This is one of the most important matters on which Norway has facilitated negotiations in the Security Council and the resolution is a major step in the right direction for protecting ... Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
These are the key conclusions from the first systematical review of the empirical, quantitative literature on the relationship between education and civil conflict. Evidence from 30 statistical studies indicate that Increasing education levels overall have pacifying effects Rapid expansions of higher education is not a threat Education inequalities between groups ... Read more »
Posted by Gudrun Østby on Thursday, 3 December 2015
I have just returned from two weeks in Congo. PRIO colleagues Ragnhild Nordås, Siri Aas Rustad and I held project meetings with our local partner. Most of our time in Congo, however, was spent teaching how to conduct research. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is often described as one ... Read more »
Last year the Congolese gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several years in a row, frequently hailed among the favorites. Tomorrow the winner of the prize for 2015 will be announced. We think ... Read more »
On 10 December Nobel’s Peace Prize 2014 is awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai. Critical voices have claimed that their work is more about rights activism than promoting peace and that there is no obvious association between education and peace. Research into the causes of war suggests, however, that ... Read more »