Announcement

The VIEWS team congratulates Maxine Leis on her successful PhD dissertation defense, “Signals of Violence, Patterns of Flight,” which analyzes how violence influences population movement. The research, part of the Mistra Geopolitics Research School and VIEWS, aims to enhance predictions of conflict-related displacement.

Uppsala, Sweden – On 21 March, Mihai Croicu successfully defended his PhD dissertation, “Forecasting Battles: New Machine Learning Methods for Predicting Armed Conflict.” Croicu’s work, developed within VIEWS, represents a major step forward in ML/AI-powered conflict forecasting. In the words of Croicu’s opponent, Dr. Thomas Chadefaux, the dissertation: ➡️ Improves forecasting accuracy by integrating real-time…

In 2023, VIEWS initiated a conflict prediction challenge to enhance early-warning systems by shifting focus from point estimates to probability distributions of fatalities in armed conflicts. The challenge’s results, available through a live dashboard, aim to improve decision-making for conflict prevention and response among policymakers.

We are thrilled to welcome a new Machine Learning Developer to VIEWS: Sonja Hæffner! Sonja has a background in Econometrics, Machine Learning and Data Science. Most recently, she worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Crisis Early Warning at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. Her research involved incorporating text data into crisis…

Huge congratulations to our very own Mihai Croicu, who nailed his dissertation to the kitchen wall at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, yesterday! Mihai has been an integral part of VIEWS since its very inception in 2017, and can in less than 2 months’ time prefix his name with the prestigious…

On 22 November, Gudlaug Olafsdottir defended her dissertation titled Precarious Paths to Democracy: Electoral Violence and the Struggle for Democratization at Uppsala University, exploring the link between electoral violence and democratization. Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant with the VIEWS team, continuing collaboration during her doctoral studies. Congratulations, Gulla!

The research by VIEWS Director Håvard Hegre and former VIEWS researcher Espen Geelmuyden Rød has been recognized in the scientific background document for the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences. Their study on democracy determinants is published in Public Choice and is available through Open Access.

We are thrilled to welcome four new members of staff this fall; three based at Uppsala University, and one at PRIO in Oslo. Anna Wadén and Bruno Goebel were the first to join us earlier this month. They are both undertaking a five-month internship with VIEWS as part of their master’s program in Peace and…