About the authors

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SIPRI Yearbook 2016

• Dr Anastasia Aladysheva (Russia) is a Senior Researcher in SIPRI’s Life in Kyrgyzstan Project, focusing on the impact evaluation of development and peacebuilding programmes in Kyrgyzstan. Her primary research interests include development economics, impact evaluation methods, social and behavioural economics, and political economy. She has a PhD in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development in Geneva, an MA in Economics from the Central European University in Budapest and an MSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from Lomonosov Moscow State University.

• Dr Ian Anthony (United Kingdom) is the Director of SIPRI’s European Security Programme. Previously, he was the Director of SIPRI’s Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme. His recent publications include The Role of Parliamentarians in Building Security In and For Europe, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 44 (Dec. 2015, co-author) and ‘Exports of dual-use chemicals to Syria: an assessment of European Union export controls’, Non-proliferation Paper no. 35 (Jan. 2014).

• Gulzhan Asylbek kyzy (Kyrgyz Republic) is a Research Assistant in SIPRI’s Life in Kyrgyzstan Project, specifically working with the impact evaluation of peacebuilding programmes in Kyrgyzstan. She also conducts research on social cohesion and gender issues in Central Asia. Previously, she worked with different security issues at the United States Peace Corps and in the European Union Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic. She has an MA in Leadership and Organization (with focus on corporate social responsibility, CSR) from Malmö University and a BA in European Studies from the American University in Central Asia.

• Dr Sibylle Bauer (Germany) is the Co-Director of SIPRI’s Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme. Since 2005 she has designed and implemented capacity-building activities in Europe and South East Asia, with a focus on legal and enforcement issues related to the enhancement of transit, brokering and export controls. Before joining SIPRI in 2003, she was a Researcher with the Institute for European Studies (ULB) in Brussels. Her recent publications include ‘The dual-use export control policy review: balancing security, trade and academic freedom in a changing world’, Non-proliferation Paper no. 48 (Mar. 2016, co-author) and ‘Nuclear export control’, Routledge Handbook of Nuclear Non-proliferation and Policy (Routledge, 2015).

• Emma Bjertén-Günther (Sweden) is a Research Assistant in SIPRI’s Security and Development Programme. She is currently working with SIPRI’s Gender, Security and Development Project, which examines how the concept of gender is constructed during times of peace and conflict, and how insecurity and violence impacts men and women differently. She has an MA in Politics and International Relations with a specialization in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University.

• Dr Vincent Boulanin (France/Sweden) is a Researcher at SIPRI working on issues related to the production, use and control of emerging military and security technologies, notably cyber-surveillance tools and autonomous weapon systems. He currently leads a one-year research project looking at the technological and industrial development enabling increasing autonomy in weapon systems. He has a PhD in Political Science from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences] in Paris. His recent publications include ‘Mapping the debate on LAWS at the CCW: taking stock and moving forward’, Non-proliferation Paper no. 49 (Mar. 2016) and ‘Implementing Article 36 weapon reviews in the light of increasing autonomy in weapon systems’, SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security no. 2015/1 (Nov. 2015).

• Mark Bromley (United Kingdom) is the Co-Director of SIPRI’s Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme, where his work focuses on national, regional and international efforts to regulate the international arms trade. Previously, he was a policy analyst for the British American Security Information Council (BASIC). His recent publications include ‘The dual-use export control policy review: balancing security, trade and academic freedom in a changing world’, Non-proliferation Paper no. 48 (Mar. 2016, co-author) and ‘ATT-related outreach assistance in sub-Saharan Africa: identifying gaps and improving coordination’, SIPRI Background Paper (Feb. 2016, co-author).

• Professor Michael Brzoska (Germany) is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. Trained as an economist and political scientist, he has published widely on issues related to the political economy of war and peace, arms trade and production, military spending, international sanctions and European security policy. His main research interest is currently the consequences of climate change for conflict, peace and security, within a collaborative centre of excellence on climate change research in Hamburg. Earlier positions include Deputy Director at the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) and Co-Director of the Arms Transfers Project at SIPRI.

• Dr Ian Davis (United Kingdom) is the Director of SIPRI’s Editorial, Publications and Library Department, which includes responsibility for producing the SIPRI Yearbook, as Executive Editor. Previously, he held several senior positions and worked as an independent human security and arms-control consultant. He has a long record of research and publication on international and regional security issues, and blogs on NATO-related issues. His recent publications include The British Bomb and NATO: Six Decades of Contributing to NATO’s Strategic Nuclear Deterrent (Nov. 2015).

• Caitriona Dowd (Ireland) is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Sussex. Her research concerns the dynamics of violent conflict in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to identity-based conflict, civilian vulnerability to violence, and processes and practices of marginalization, inequality and differential governance. Employing a combination of quantitative, statistical and qualitative methodologies, her research focuses on identifying and exploring patterns of inter-group conflict, mobilization and relations in comparative African contexts, in both cross-national and country-focused cases including Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Somalia. She has an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and has previously worked in the development and humanitarian sectors in East and West Africa.

• Dr Aude Fleurant (Canada/France) is the Director of SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. Her research interests focus on the transformation of the military market and analysis of the interaction of supply and demand dynamics. Previously, she was the Director of Arms and Defence Economics at the Military Academy Strategic Research Institute in Paris. She has authored many articles on the arms industry and military expenditure during her tenures at the Military Academy and at SIPRI. Her recent publications include ‘Trends in world military expenditure, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Apr. 2016, co-author) and ‘Trends in international arms transfers, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Feb. 2016, co-author).

• Richard Ghiasy (Afghanistan/Netherlands) is a Researcher and a Project Manager in SIPRI’s Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme. Previously, he was a Research Fellow at the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) in Kabul and a non-resident Analyst at the Afghan Embassy in Beijing. He has lived in China for extended periods, studied and worked in 7 countries, and carried out professional travel to more than 20 countries. He has an MBA from Wuhan University of Technology and an MPA in development studies from Tsinghua University.

• Annabelle Giger (France) is a Consultant for Every Casualty’s standards process and works on other projects linked to forced migration. Previously, she was a Practice Development Officer at Every Casualty. She has also worked as a humanitarian in North Lebanon, coordinating education programmes for Syrian refugees and Lebanese communities, and for Oxfam France as a Communications Officer. She has an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.

• Dr Alexander Glaser (Germany) is an Associate Professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. He works on nuclear energy and security policy, with a focus on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control. He is co-director of the University’s Programme on Science and Global Security, co-editor of the journal Science & Global Security, and co-chair of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, which publishes the annual Global Fissile Material Report. He is co-author of Unmaking the Bomb: A Fissile Material Approach to Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation (MIT Press, 2014).

• Lina Grip (Sweden) is a Researcher in SIPRI’s European Security Programme. Previously, she was a Researcher in SIPRI’s Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme. She is also SIPRI’s coordinator for the European Union Non-proliferation Consortium and a doctoral candidate in political science. Her recent publications include ‘History never repeats? Imports, impact and control of small arms in Africa’, Contemporary Security Policy, vol. 36, no. 1 (2015).

• Dr John Hart (United States) is a Senior Researcher and the Head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project in SIPRI’s Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme. His recent publications include ‘L’évaluation des activités liées à l’armement dans la vérification de l’Arms control multilatéral: aspects théoriques et opérationnels’ [The evaluation of activities related to weapons in multilateral arms control verification: theoretical and operational aspects], in G-H. Soutou (ed.) Stratégique: Maîtrise des armaments et désarmement, no. 108 (Apr. 2015, translation by Olivier Zajec).

• Sam Heller (United States) is a freelance Journalist and Analyst focused on the Syrian conflict and the broader Middle East. His research interests include power dynamics among Syria’s rebels, trends and debates within jihadist thought, and humanitarian needs and governance in Syria. Previously, he worked as a Syria-focused Researcher and Analyst for several research consultancies, and as a Research Assistant at the Brookings Doha Center in Doha, Qatar. He has a master’s degree in Arabic from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Yale University. His work has been featured in VICE News, The Daily Beast, Jane’s Terrorism & Insurgency Monitor, World Politics Review and War on the Rocks, among others.

• Theresa Höghammar (Sweden) is a Coordinator for Strategic Projects and New Initiatives in SIPRI’s Director’s Office. Previously, she worked as a Researcher in SIPRI’s Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme on gender and (in)security and in SIPRI’s Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme on Track II diplomacy. She has also worked for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Geneva and Stockholm. She has a Masters degree in Political Science from Uppsala University/the Swedish National Defence College.

• Daniel Hyslop (Australia) is a Research Manager at the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). He is an applied researcher in development studies, in measuring trends in peace and conflict, violence and terrorism, and the economics of peace. He also manages IEP’s external research partnerships with a variety of intergovernmental and non-profit organizations. He has worked in various multidisciplinary research and policy roles in political, university and government environments.

• Dr Rachel Irwin (United States) is a Senior Researcher in SIPRI’s Security and Development Programme, working on issues related to gender and development, and humanitarian access. She is also a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, focusing on the history of Sweden’s relationship with the World Health Organization. Her recent publications include ‘Challenges in researching violence affecting health service delivery in complex security environments’, Social Science and Medicine (Mar. 2016).

• Suyoun Jang (Republic of Korea) is a Researcher in SIPRI’s Security and Development Programme. Her current research is on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators and development policies towards conflict-affected fragile states. Her recent publications include ‘Measuring Peacebuilding and Statebuilding in the New SDG Framework’, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (2016, co-author).

• Yeonju Jung (Republic of Korea) is an Intern in SIPRI’s Security and Development Programme. Her research interests include human security and development, structural violence, and gendered violence in post-conflict settings. Previously, she worked at the Jesuit Service Cambodia (JSC), in its rehabilitation programme for young people with physical disabilities resulting from land-mines, war, accidents and polio (2011–13), and as a Researcher at the Re-shaping Development Institute (ReDI) in South Korea (2015–16). She has a master’s degree in the Social Anthropology of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

• Niklas Karlén (Sweden) is a PhD candidate at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. His research focuses on the decisions of external states to provide and terminate material support to belligerents and how these decisions in turn influence conflict dynamics.

• Noel Kelly (Ireland) is a Programme Coordinator in SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. He is responsible for maintaining several project databases common to the programme. He has contributed to the SIPRI Yearbook since 2009, reporting on arms embargoes, the annual SIPRI military expenditure questionnaire findings and the findings of the United Nations reporting system on military expenditure. He has a master’s degree in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. His recent publications include ‘The SIPRI Top 100 arms-producing and military services companies, 2014’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Dec. 2105, co-author).

• Shannon N. Kile (United States) is a Senior Researcher and the Head of the Nuclear Weapons Project in SIPRI’s Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme. His principal areas of research are nuclear arms control and non-proliferation, with a special interest in the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea. His work also looks at regional security issues related to Afghanistan and the Middle East. He has contributed to numerous SIPRI publications, including chapters on nuclear arms control and nuclear forces and weapon technology for the SIPRI Yearbook since 1994.

• Hans M. Kristensen (Denmark) is the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). He is a frequent consultant to the news media and institutes on nuclear weapon matters, and is co-author of the ‘Nuclear notebook’ column in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. His recent publications include ‘Nuclear weapons modernizations: a threat to the NPT?’, Arms Control Today (May 2014).

• Jaeyeon Lee (Republic of Korea) is an Intern in SIPRI’s Security and Development Programme, assisting with several research projects. Her main research area is gender and development. Previously, she worked with the development of gender-sensitive official development assistance (ODA) indicators for the South Korean Government at the Korean Women’s Development Institute and with gender impact assessment of local government policy at the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family. She has a master’s degree in International Studies from Seoul National University.

• Dr Jaïr van der Lijn (Netherlands) is the Head of Peace Operations and Conflict Management at SIPRI. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ and an Associate Fellow at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. His research interests include the future of peace operations, their evaluation and factors for success and failure, and comprehensive approaches in missions. His recent publications include Peace-building and Friction: Global and Local Encounters in Post-conflict Societies (Routledge, 2016, co-editor), ‘Peacekeepers under threat? Fatality trends in UN peace operations’, SIPRI Policy Brief (Sep. 2015, co-author) and The Future Peace Operations Landscape: Voices from Stakeholders Around the Globe (SIPRI, Jan. 2015, co-author).

• Professor Erik Melander (Sweden) is a Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. He directs the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) and is the Deputy Program Leader of the East Asian Peace Program. His publications include articles on patterns of armed conflict, gender and war, geographic aspects of ethnic conflict, and the prevention of genocide, in journals such as Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations and Journal of Gender Studies.

• Dr Zia Mian (Pakistan/United Kingdom) is the Co-Director of the Programme on Science and Global Security at Princeton University, where he also directs the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia. His work focuses on nuclear weapons, arms control and disarmament, and nuclear energy issues in India and Pakistan. He is co-editor of the journal Science & Global Security and co-chair of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. He is co-author of Unmaking the Bomb: A Fissile Material Approach to Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation (MIT Press, 2014).

• Dr Gary Milante (United States) is the Director of SIPRI’s Security and Development Programme. Throughout his career as a researcher and policy advisor at SIPRI and the World Bank, he has focused on the intersection of peace and socio-economic development. He has concentrated on making the complex problems associated with the sequencing of institutional reforms, development portfolio design, strategic planning and needs assessment accessible to policymakers and practitioners in the field, with an emphasis on the needs of fragile and conflict-affected states. His latest research and recent publications are on financing for peacebuilding, poverty, indicators for measuring development, and systems thinking in fragile development.

• Dr Gaudence Nyirabikali (Rwanda/Sweden) is a Senior Researcher in the Mali Civil Society and Peacebuilding Project. She has academic and field-based experience in peacebuilding processes and the post-conflict reconstruction of state and society, drawing particularly on research and fieldwork in Angola and Northern Ireland. Her research interests include social and political dynamics within African post-colonial states, state–society relations and the quality of governance structures in relation to fostering political stability, sustainable peace and human development. She has a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster. Her recent publications include ‘Opportunities and challenges for civil society contributions to peacebuilding in Mali’, SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security no. 2016/01 (Mar. 2016).

• Professor Soli Özel (Turkey) is a Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Kadir Has University in Istanbul and a Columnist for the Habertürk daily newspaper. He also advises the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) on foreign policy issues. He has taught, guest lectured and held fellowships widely across the United States and Europe. He is on International Alert’s board of directors and is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He has an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BA in Economics from Bennington College. His work has been published in Internationale Politik, Journal of Democracy, Foreign Policy, International Security, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, The Guardian and Bitterlemons-International, among others.

• Dr Rouzbeh Parsi (Iran/Sweden) is a Historian and a Senior Lecturer at the Department of History and Human Rights Studies, Lund University. He is also the Director of the European Iran Research Group. His research area is the Middle East, in particular Iran, with a focus on domestic political developments and issues of governance, and their implications for Iranian foreign policy. From 2009–13 he was a Senior Research Fellow/Senior Analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris. His recent publications include ‘Iran’s election results show pendulum swinging away from hard-liners’, World Politics Review (10 Mar. 2016), and ‘The Middle East and the deal: in search of a new balance’, in Iran After the Deal: The Road Ahead (Italian Institute for International Political Studies, Sep. 2015).

• Manjana Pecht (Germany) is a Research Assistant in SIPRI’s European Security Programme. She conducts research on the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, on foreign fighters and on the Islamic State. Previously, she worked as a Student Assistant at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (2013–14), the Interdisciplinary Working Group Science, Technology and Security (IANUS) in Darmstadt (2012–14), and at Heidelberg’s Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK) (2012). She has an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Goethe University Frankfurt and the Technical University of Darmstadt, a BA in Political Science and Sociology and a BSc in Geography from the University of Bonn.

• Valerie Percival (Canada) is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. Through previous positions at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the International Crisis Group and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), she has experienced the difficulties of international engagement in conflict-affected states, the challenges of policy development and the risks and rewards of interdisciplinary research. Her current research focus is on the relationship between conflict and health. She studied at the University of Toronto, Carleton University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

• Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman (United Kingdom) is a Senior Researcher and the Head of the Military Expenditure Project in SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. He is responsible for monitoring data on military expenditure worldwide. Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, working on defence and peace economics. His recent publications include ‘Trends in world military expenditure, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Apr. 2016, co-author) and ‘Trends in international arms transfers, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Feb. 2016, co-author).

• Professor Clionadh Raleigh (Ireland) is a Senior Professor of Political Geography at the University of Sussex, the Director of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Project, and an external Researcher at both the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work concerns conflict empirics, trends, spatial patterns, disaggregated data and metrics of instability, African governance, state fragility, and the political consequences of environmental change. Her present work focuses on the relationship between different conflict patterns and government inclusion, militia activities across Africa, political elite networks, and riot and protest behaviour in Africa and South Asia.

• Tariq Rauf (Canada) is the Director of SIPRI’s Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Programme and is an internationally respected authority on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues. He was the Senior Advisor to the Chair of the Disarmament Committee at the 2015 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. From 2002–11 he was the Head of the Verification and Security Policy Coordination Office at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reporting to the Director General. From 2003–10 he was also the Alternate Head of the IAEA Delegation to NPT Conferences. He received his education at the University of London (London School of Economics and Political Science, and King’s College London), Carleton University and the University of Toronto.

• Emmicki Roos (Sweden) is the Executive Director of 1325 Policy Group. She is an expert on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the women, peace and security agenda, with extensive experience of advocacy, policy and research. She is also a member of the University of Leicester’s Security, Conflict and International Development (SCID) Panel of Experts and has worked for organizations such as UN Women, the Institute for Inclusive Security, and Operation 1325. To date, she has worked in Kenya, Afghanistan, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Indonesia and Serbia, among others. She holds a BA in Political Science from Concordia University, Canada, and an MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

• Lukas Rüttinger (Germany) is a Senior Project Manager at adelphi, focusing on the links between global environmental change and conflict, and the interface between foreign, security and development policy. He has worked on the security implications of climate change for the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Commission, the European External Action Service, the German Foreign Ministry and the G7. He is a specialist, evaluator and trainer on the environment, natural resources and conflicts. In addition to analysing the security implications of climate change, he has developed methods and instruments for analysing and managing natural resource conflicts. He has advised development organizations on sustainable development in post-conflict countries, and devised policies and strategies for tackling complex challenges relating to the environment, fragility and conflict.

• Camilla Schippa (Italy/Sweden) is the Director of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). She oversees and coordinates the activities of IEP’s offices in Sydney, New York, Brussels and Mexico City. With 20 years of professional experience in building new initiatives for development and peace, guiding public–private partnerships, leading teams and coordinating vast public outreach efforts, her first-hand expertise is in intergovernmental organizations, philanthropic strategy and academic research. Before joining IEP, she held senior positions at the United Nations Secretariat for over a decade.

• Elisabeth Sköns (Sweden) is the Head of SIPRI’s Mali Civil Society and Peacebuilding Project. She has 20 years’ experience as a researcher on military expenditure and arms industry issues and has published widely, in particular for the SIPRI Yearbook. Until mid 2012 she was the Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. Since 2009 she has led a project on security and governance in Africa. During the period 2009–12, this project included research and support for civil society organizations in five African countries. She has a PhD in Economics from the University of the West of England.

• Timo Smit (Netherlands/Sweden) is a Research Assistant in SIPRI’s Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme. He is responsible for maintaining SIPRI’s database on multilateral peace operations, including data collection, and conducts research on trends in peacekeeping. Prior to rejoining SIPRI in 2014, he worked for the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly. His recent publications include ‘Peacekeepers under threat? Fatality trends in UN peace operations’, SIPRI Policy Brief (Sep. 2015, co-author).

• Dan Smith (United Kingdom) is the Director of SIPRI. He is a renowned scholar and analyst, with a long record of research and publication on a wide range of conflict and peace issues. His current work focuses on the relationship between climate change and insecurity, on peace and security issues in the Middle East and on global conflict trends. He served four years in the UN Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group, two of which (2010–11) were as the Chair. Since January 2014 he is also a Professor of Peace & Conflict at the University of Manchester. He is the author of successive editions of atlases of politics, war and peace, and the Middle East, and of a blog on international politics.

• Lovisa Strand (Sweden) is a Research Manager at the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, identifying how its research-related activities and issues should be developed and implemented. Her work includes building Kvinna till Kvinna’s research programme, initiating research and cooperating with scholars, as well as advocating for a broader view of security and conflict. She has a Master’s degree in Antiquity and Classical History and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Stockholm University.

• Professor Isak Svensson (Sweden) is a Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. His areas of expertise are international mediation in civil wars, the religious aspects of conflict resolution processes, and the dynamics of strategic nonviolent conflicts. Previously, he was the Director of Research at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago. He has published in Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, European Journal of International Relations and International Negotiation, among others. His latest books include International Mediation Bias and Peacemaking: Taking Sides in Civil Wars (Routledge, 2015) and Ending Holy Wars: Religion and Conflict Resolution in Civil Wars (University of Queensland Press, 2012).

• Lotta Themnér (Sweden) is a Research Coordinator with the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. She has edited nine editions of the UCDP’s States in Armed Conflict and has co-authored a number of articles and book chapters on armed conflicts and organized violence. She has contributed to the SIPRI Yearbook since 2005.

• Professor Sally Theobald (United Kingdom) is a Chair in Social Science and International Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Her research area is gender equity and health systems, and she is currently working on collaborative research projects in a range of African and Asian contexts and has a particular interest in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. She leads work on gender and equity for the ReBUILD programme of work (Research for stronger health systems post conflict) and plays a key role in RinGs (Research in Gender and Ethics: building stronger health systems). She has a disciplinary background in geography and development studies and a PhD in Gender, Health and Development.

• Janani Vivekananda (United Kingdom) is the Head of Environment, Climate Change and Security at International Alert, where she is responsible for research and implementation support on climate change, environmental and natural resource related dimensions of peacebuilding and security. Her role involves innovation, analysis, research and linking the academic, policy and practitioner communities on climate change, development, peace and security issues. Her research interests include the conflict-sensitivity of climate change responses in fragile states, the links between climate change and conflict resilience, and opportunities for peace-positive responses to climate change and disasters. She has worked on climate change and security issues since 2006 and has in-depth field experience from South Asia and Africa. She has degrees from Oxford University and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

• Pieter D. Wezeman (Netherlands) is a Senior Researcher in SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. Prior to rejoining SIPRI in 2006 he was a Senior Analyst for the Dutch Ministry of Defence, looking at the proliferation of conventional and nuclear weapon technology. Among other things, he has published on arms flows to sub-Saharan Africa, military capabilities in the Middle East and arms flows to Syria. His recent publications include ‘Trends in world military expenditure, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Apr. 2016, co-author) and ‘Trends in international arms transfers, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Feb. 2016, co-author).

• Siemon T. Wezeman (Netherlands) is a Senior Researcher in SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. His areas of research include the monitoring of arms transfers, military spending and arms-producing companies, with a particular focus on the Asia–Pacific and the former Soviet regions, the use of weapons in conflicts, transparency in arms transfers, and the development of conventional military technologies. His recent publications include ‘Trends in world military expenditure, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Apr. 2016, co-author) and ‘Trends in international arms transfers, 2015’, SIPRI Fact Sheet (Feb. 2016, co-author).

• Professor Andrew Wilson (United Kingdom) is a Professor in Ukrainian Studies at University College London. He has worked extensively on the comparative politics of the post-Soviet states since 1990. His latest book, Ukraine Crisis: What the West Needs to Know, was published by Yale in 2014. A fourth edition of his book The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation came out in 2015. His other books include Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship (2011), Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (2005) and Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World (2005). His occasional publications at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) include Survival of the Richest: How Oligarchs Block Reform in Ukraine, Policy Brief (ECFR, Apr. 2016) and What Does Ukraine Think? (ECFR, May 2015).

• Dr Maha Yahya (Belgium/Lebanon) is the Director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. Her research focuses on citizenship, pluralism and social justice and their links to political developments. Prior to joining Carnegie, she led work on Participatory Development and Social Justice at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA) and worked with international and private sector organizations on socio-economic development and post-conflict policies in a number of countries. She has two PhDs in social sciences and humanities from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. Her recent publications include Great Expectations in Tunisia (Carnegie, Mar. 2016) and Refugees and the Making of an Arab Regional Disorder (Carnegie, Nov. 2015).

• Dr Arzu Yilmaz (Turkey) is the Head of the Department of Politics and Public Policy at The American University of Kurdistan and is the Director of the Center for Peace and Human Security. She is currently a Mercator–Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) for 2016–17. Previously, she was a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Duhok. She has a PhD in International Relations, an MA in International Relations and an MA in Gender Studies from Ankara University. She publishes frequently as a columnist for Birikim Haftalik, focusing on the Kurds and Middle Eastern politics, and has a forthcoming book on Kurdish refugees in Kurdistan.