I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. My research has focused on the microfoundations of social cohesion in the aftermath of conflict.  Specifically, I am interested in exploring the process of reconciliation between individuals who have previously collaborated with insurgent groups and those that have not collaborated in post-conflict societies. My most recent project analyzes how political elites are reintegrated into society and how they perceive and interact with civilians and other elites who have a history of collaboration, particularly in regions where collaboration was widespread.

 

My regional focus is on states with significant Muslim communities. To explore the various research inquiries in my dissertation, I employ a multi-method approach. This includes conducting surveys, focus groups, experiments, and in-depth interviews. In my recent work, I have traveled to Iraq on multiple occasions to conduct interviews with political elites, field a conjoint experiment and design a lab experiment. For my previous work, I traveled to Afghanistan (before the Taliban takeover) to carry out a conjoint experiment and conduct over 120 interviews with Afghan civilians. I place a strong emphasis on fieldwork in the countries where I conduct surveys/experiments, often making multiple trips and speaking the local languages.

 

My research has received funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the American Political Science Association (APSA), the National Association of University Women (NAUW), Research on Middle East Political Science Grant, the Arab Fund and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.