معرفی
Emma Elfversson is Associate Professor (Docent) of Peace and Conflict Research and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Uppsala University, Sweden. She is also a researcher at the Institute for Research on Conflicts of Goals in Sustainable Social Transition and, on leave until 2026, at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research. Since 2017 she has led and contributed to several large externally-funded projects examining the micro-dynamics of post-war urban violence, community policing, land tenure and climate resilience in Africa.
Education
- Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University (2017)
- Politics Magister degree, Uppsala University (2008)
Research focus
Dr Elfversson’s work sits at the intersection of peace and conflict research, development studies and comparative politics. Her empirical research is concentrated on sub-Saharan Africa, especially Kenya and Liberia, and revolves around how urbanization, ethnicity and state–society relations influence cycles of violence and local peacemaking. She uses mixed-methods designs that combine fine-grained geocoded event data with extensive qualitative fieldwork.
Current flagship projects include:
- The Continuation of Conflict-related Violence in Postwar Cities – VR-funded, street-level mapping in Beirut, Belfast, Mitrovica and Abidjan.
- Urban-rural dynamics of community-based conflict management – Formas-funded study of community policing in Kenya.
- Strategies of climate resilience – EBA-funded project on land tenure and adaptation strategies in Kenya.
- Communities at risk: Mediation as a tool to defuse ethnic tensions in post-war Liberia – FBA-funded network analysis of local mediators.
Publications & Impact
Across 40+ peer-reviewed articles and two books, Elfversson has advanced understanding of urban electoral violence, communal conflict resolution and the spatiality of post-war violence. Her 2025 World Development article on urban growth and electoral violence and her 2019 Comparative Political Studies piece on local peacemaking in Kenya are already widely cited.
Teaching & Mentoring
She teaches Development Studies and Quantitative Methods on the MSSc programme, supervises Bachelor and Master theses, and is assistant supervisor to PhD candidates Marcellina Priadi and Lisa Svenhard.
Service & Leadership
- Director, Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev)
- Former vice-chair, Doctoral Board, Uppsala Student Union
- Former chair, PhD Council, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Member, Martin H:son Holmdahl Scholarship Committee
Replication datasets and research code are openly shared via her GitHub profile.
