Dr Caitriona Dowd is Assistant Professor in Security Studies at DCU’s School of Law and Government.
Her research concerns the dynamics of political violence in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to the strategic use of civilian targeting and terror tactics, the use of new and emerging methodologies for violence monitoring, and the role of conflict in humanitarian crises. Employing a combination of quantitative, geographic and qualitative methodologies, her research maps and explores patterns of conflict in comparative contexts, in both cross-national and country-focused cases. Caitriona’s work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals including African Affairs, Terrorism and Political Violence, Political Geography, Peacebuilding, The Journal of Modern African Studies and Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
Caitriona has led graduate-level teaching on the governance of violent conflict, international security in global politics, the political economy of violent conflict and research methods.
In her previous role as a peace and conflict specialist in the humanitarian sector, Caitriona worked in Somalia, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Mali, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. She holds degrees from the University of Sussex, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Trinity College Dublin.
Recent publications are listed here.
Research Interests
Political violence, sub-Saharan Africa