Hello and welcome.

I am Sophia Dawkins and I work where research and policy connect in international affairs. 

I have 14 years of experience in the peace, security and humanitarian fields, including significant time on the ground in South Sudan. Alongside my strategic work in political processes, I manage research teams to implement cutting-edge social science methods in crisis settings. These range from using satellite data to understand the needs of marginalized populations to combining advanced statistical analysis with ethnographic research to map communication within armed groups. 

I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science with Distinction from Yale University, an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. 

Currently, I am a Fellow (non-resident) at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, a Fellow at the Centre on Armed Groups and an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at Kings College London. Starting in September 2024, I will be Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, teaching the graduate course 'Data and Conflict.'