Evidence-informed advisor for governments and international organizations working in fragile and conflict-affected settings and a political scientist specializing in property rights, customary law, and forced migration. Research and consulting have taken me to Kosovo, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Oman, Uganda, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Vietnam. I love being outdoors and particularly enjoy hiking and kayaking. When I am not hanging out with my entertaining family or working at the University of Richmond, I engage in advocacy to combat hunger in the US and abroad.
My consulting and research focus on property rights, post-conflict return migration, and customary law. I help organizations make better institutional decisions after violent conflict.
There are two trajectories of my work. The first follows my longtime scholarly expertise in property rights as I look at how states rebuild housing, land, and property systems after conflict. The second trajectory examines the decisions people make after being forcibly displaced by violent conflict and specifically investigates choices to repatriate or return to home communities.
I have extensive qualitative fieldwork experience in Africa and the Western Balkans supplemented by quantitative and spatial analysis. I also continue to work on issues around customary law and land tenure as well as gender and its intersection with forced displacement and housing, land, and property rights. My goal is to integrate research, policy, and institutional analysis to support recovery after violent conflict.
