Professor Kristin M. Bakke is a leading scholar in Political Science and International Relations at University College London (UCL), affiliated with the Department of Political Science and the School of Public Policy. She co-founded UCL's Conflict & Change research cluster and teaches in the European and International Social and Political Studies program. Her research focuses on political violence, post-war state-building, self-determination struggles, and geopolitical dynamics in post-Soviet regions. She has held academic positions at UCL since 2009, previously serving as Assistant Professor at Leiden University and a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center. She holds a PhD from the University of Washington and BA from Indiana University. Her research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, including fieldwork in Northern Ireland, India, Guatemala, and post-Soviet states. Key themes include state responses to opposition, wartime legacies, and memory politics. She authored *Decentralization and Intrastate Struggles* and contributes to journals like the *Journal of Peace Research*. She chairs the Conflict Research Society and sits on editorial boards of top journals. Her recent work addresses challenges in polling during wartime, memory politics in Ukraine, and Putin's influence in post-Soviet states. She collaborates internationally, including with PRIO and WIDER, focusing on conflict dynamics and policy implications.
