Roya Talibova

Roya Talibova is the Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her research explores political violence, authoritarian regimes, and historical political economy, with a focus on the long-term effects of repression and combat motivation. She holds a PhD in Political Science and Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan, alongside a dual MS in Statistics, MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, and prior academic roles at Vanderbilt University and the University of Pennsylvania’s DevLab@Penn.

Education:

• PhD in Political Science and Scientific Computing, MS in Statistics (2022), University of Michigan
• MPA (2014), Harvard Kennedy School
• MA in International Relations (2009), Seton Hall University
• BA (2007), Azerbaijan University of Foreign Languages

Research Interests: Political violence, authoritarian regimes, historical political economy, quantitative methods, and the intersection of repression and military mobilization. Her work combines archival data, geospatial analysis, and computational models to study phenomena such as WWII combat motivation and the legacy of Stalinist repression.

Awards:

• Ronald H. Coase Best Dissertation Award
• Juan Linz Best Dissertation Award
• Midwest Political Science Association Best Paper Awards

Grants: Supported by NSF, Carnegie Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and others. Her methodological contributions include developing tools for large-scale data linkage and terrorism database frameworks.

Affiliations: Core faculty at Harvard’s Belfer Center, affiliated with Ash Center, Center for International Development, Harvard Data Science Initiative, and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.