Tutoring and Dissertation Advisors

This document briefly describes principles, rules and formats for tutoring Ph.D. candidates at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research. In addition, the principal dissertation advisors and the assistant advisors are presented, along with their specific competence and interests. The document is continuously updated so as to provide Ph.D. programme applicants and Ph.D. candidates with information that is as accurate as possible; latest updated July 2010.

1. Principles and rules

Every Ph.D. candidate is entitled to one principal dissertation advisor and one assistant advisor, and to at least 2 hours of tutoring per month during study semesters. A principal dissertation advisor is a professor or an associate professor with a faculty-financed position. The principal advisor is obliged to make sure that the Ph.D. candidate is following her/his study plan. The requirement for being appointed assistant advisor is to have a doctoral degree. An assistant advisor may, in exceptional cases, come from another department. At the department, the cooperation between Ph.D. candidates and advisors is initially established during teaching, seminars, discussions, etc. Common research interests are clarified and the Ph.D. candidates choice of research problem, method etc. are discussed and specified. The assignment of advisors usually takes the form of a mutual decision between the Ph.D. candidate and the advisors in question. The formal decision to assign a principal and an assistant advisor to a given Ph.D. candidate is taken by the Head of Department upon the recommendation of the group of principal dissertation advisors (as listed below under item 2). The department uses a system whereby dissertation advisors with several Ph.D. candidates in common may form a tutoring group with the purpose of increasing the quality and efficiency of the advisory process. The provides an opportunity for sharing tutoring time between bilateral meetings and group meetings. There are currently two tutoring groups, with Ph.D. candidates that in their dissertations apply quantitative and qualitative methods, respectively.

2. Principal dissertation advisors (see also personal home pages)

Cecilia Albin, Professor. Albin's research and teaching mainly concern conflict management and conflict resolution, particularly negotiations, mediation and Track-Two diplomacy; the role of ethics and justice in conflict and conflict resolution; non-state actors; and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Mainly theory building and empirically based research with qualitative methods. Mats Hammarstrm, Associate Professor. Hammarstrms research and teaching focuses general conflict and peace theory, causes of war, escalation and de-escalation of conflict, the role of third parties in preventing conflict escalation, internationalization of ethnic conflict, conflict prevention, democracy as a peace model, refugee problems and conflict diffusion. He applies both qualitative and quantitative methods. Kristine Hglund, Associate Professor. Chairs a tutoring group. Hglunds research and teaching concern, among other things, the influence of violence on conflict resolution and democratization 2010-07-13

in a post-conflict context; peace negotiations and violence; international third-party intervention for conflict resolution and management. Her methodological specialization is in comparative, qualitative research methods. Erik Melander, Associate Professor. Melanders research concerns causes and dynamics of civil war and peace processes, the human impact of civil war, and the role of gender equality in this context. He uses quantitative and qualitative methods. Kjell-ke Nordquist, Associate Professor. Nordquists research and teaching focuses areas such as mediation, peace processes, reconciliation, peace agreements, autonomi solutions in intra-state war and notions that justify war. Empirical/regional specialization: Colombia, East Timor, the Middle East. Erik Noreen, Associate Professor. Noreens research is focused on security studies and foreign policy analysis with emphasis on socialization and cognitive theory. Empirical/regional specialization: Northern Europe and the North Atlantic area. Methodological specialization: various (comparative) textual analyses such as discourse and content analysis. Thomas Ohlson, Professor. Ohlson is, among other things, focusing on causes of war, conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes in intra-state and regionalized wars, peace agreements and their implementation, regional security, weak states and democratization/transitions in post-war contexts. Empirical/regional specialization: Afrika, Third World. Methodological specialization: qualitative/comparative methods. Isak Svensson, Associate Professor. Svenssons research and teaching focuses on mediation, conflict termination and peace agreements, in particular in internal armed conflicts. He has also been involved in projects relating to religious dimensions of armed conflict, and has studied unarmed insurrections. His empirical work consist mainly of global studies, but he also researches third party involvement in Sri Lanka. Methodological specialization: mainly quantitative methods. During 2010-11 Svensson is employed by the University of Otago, New Zealand. Ashok Swain, Professor. In his research and teaching Swain is focusing, among other things, on new threats to security, regional and international organizations, democracy and conflict management. Regional specialization: Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He applies mainly qualitative methods, mainly through comparative case studies. Peter Wallensteen, Professor. In his research and teaching Wallensteen focuses, among other things, on areas such as armed conflict, conflict resolution, regional and international security. He is mainly interested in general theory, global issues and mainly advises research projects based on comparative methods. Magnus berg, Associate Professor. Chairs a tutoring group. berg's research interests mainly concern the causes and consequences of of civil conflict, focusing on escalation processes and the interplay between governance and economic factors in civil conflict. Methodological specialization: quantitative and game theory.

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3. Assistant advisors (see also personal home pages)

Karen Brounus, Ph.D. Brounus research focuses on reconciliation and transitional justice processes after civil war. Teaching: reconciliation processes, development and armed conflict, research ethics. Her empirical work has centred on the Rwandan post-genocide reconciliation process, and the psychological aspects of participating and witnessing. She uses quantitative and qualitative methods in her research. During 2010-11 Brounus is employed by the University of Otago, New Zealand. Kristine Eck, Ph.D. Ecks research and teaching focuses on rebel recruitment, civil war dynamics, violence against civilians, and transitional justice. Her empirical work consists of both cross-national studies as well as in-depth analysis of Nepal. Methodological specialization: Eck uses both statistical methods and fieldwork-based case studies; she has also undertaken post-conflict survey work. Hanne Fjelde, Ph.D. In her research and teaching, Fjelde focuses on causes of civil war, rebel group conflict strategies and the conflict behavior of non-state actors. Her empirical work consist mainly of global studies, but she also focuses on Africa, in particular on Nigeria. Methodological specialization: quantitative methods and GIS. Erika Forsberg, Ph.D. Forsbergs overarching research interests concern transnational and subnational determinants of civil war. In particular, she studies if and how civil war may produce contagion effects affecting neighboring countries. She mainly uses quantitative methods in her research. Lisa Hultman, Ph.D. Hultmans research and teaching focuses on violence against civilians, rebel group conflict strategies, and peacekeeping operations/humanitarian interventions. Methodological specialization: mainly quantitative methods, but also case studies. Roland Kostic, Ph.D. Kostics research and teaching focuses among other things on external peacebuilding, transitional justice, reconciliatory processes after civil wars, the role of diasporas in peacebuilding and reconciliation. Empirically he focuses primarily on the Balkans. He uses quantitative and qualitative methods in his research. Jannie Lilja, Ph.D. Liljas research focuses on civil war dynamics, violence against civilians, negotiations, and mobilization for peace. Her empirical work consists both of cross-case and in-case comparisons of qualitative and quantitative kind, drawing on empirical data from Sri Lanka, Indonesian Aceh and Senegal. Anders Nilsson, Ph.D. Nilssons research and teaching focuses on conflict resolution and peace-building, with particular emphasis on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, security sector reform (SSR) and informal military networks. His empirical focus is Africa, in particular Congo-Brazzaville and Sierra Leone. Methodological specialization: mainly qualitative methods, especially structured focused comparison and process-tracing. Desire Nilsson, Ph.D. Nilssons research and teaching focuses on conflict termination, peace

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agreements, peacekeeping operations, and durable peace following settlements, in particular in civil conflicts. Her empirical work consist mainly of global studies but she also focuses on West Africa. Methodological specialization: mainly quantitative methods. Louise Olsson, Ph.D. Researcher and Assistant Professor. Olssons research focuses on conflict resolution, peace operations and gender-specific consequences of armed conflict and peace processes. Empirical focus: Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and the global conflict resolution activities of international organizations. Methodological specialisation: comparative, qualitative research methods and case-study method. She also works part-time as project leader with the Folke Bernadotte Academy. Mimmi Sderberg Kovacs, Ph.D. Researcher and Assistant Professor. Sderberg-Kovacs research and teaching focuses on non-state actors in civil wars, war termination, conflict resolution, peace processes, rebel-to-party transformations, and post-war democratisation. Empirically, she focuses primarily on Sub-Saharan Africa (West Africa in particular) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her methodological specialisation is in comparative, qualitative research methods.

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