Past Grant
Awards
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund
Each year, The Pearson Institute’s Research and Innovation Fund provides grants to University of Chicago faculty and PhD students conducting research on global conflict. Studies must be rooted in innovative, data-driven research that seeks to understand and reduce global conflict and demonstrates public policy impact.
Researchers awarded a Pearson Grant explore topics that are regionally and topically diverse, each with a focus on using quantitative social science to advance the study of conflict and the potential to advance public policy involving global conflict.
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund 2022 Awardees
2022 Awardees
Michael Albertus
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
State-Building, Long-Term Development, and Rural Stability in Peru
Maria Angélica Bautista
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Where Does Power Lie? Women’s De Jure and De Facto Political Power and Female Empowerment in Eastern Nigeria
Shanon Hsuan-Ming Hsu
PhD Student, Department of Economics
Industrial Policy, Firm Ownerships, and Ethnic Inequality in Malaysia
Varun Kapoor
PhD Student, Department of Economics
The Social and Economic Consequences of Peasant Rebellions in India
Ben Lessing
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Dynamics of Crime and Public Policy Under Prison-Based Criminal Governance
Zikai Li
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Interethnic Complementarity and Conflict in British Malaya
Ramzy Mardini
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Rebel in Society: Social Networks, Wartime Consolidation, and the Emergence of the Islamic State
Laura Montenegro Helfer
PhD Candidate, Harris Public Policy
Setting the Foundations for Apartheid: Market Access and the Rise of Afrikaner Identity
Estéfano Rubio
PhD Candidate, Department of Economics
Optimal Redistribution of De Jure and De Facto Political Power: A Mechanism Design Approach, Evidence from Labor Unions
Raúl Sánchez de la Sierra
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Morality, Violence, and Opportunism: Inside the Nduma Defense of Congo Militia
Noah Schouela
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
The Politics of Urban Social Topography in Latin America
Madeleine Stevens
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Habeas (Non) Corpus: Enforced Disappearance and States' Repertoires of Repression
Nicolás Torres-Echeverry
PhD Student, Department of Sociology
Party Decay and the Reconfiguration of Electoral Competition under Conflict
Andres Uribe
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Coercion and Democratic Capture in Mexico
Maya Van Nuys
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Policing the International: Policy Diffusion and the Postcolony
Rebecca Wolfe
Senior Lecturer, Harris Public Policy
Reducing Violence versus Building Trust: Exploring the Joint Effect of Top-down and Bottom-up Peacebuilding Interventions
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund 2021 Awardees
2021 Awardees
M. Albertus
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
State-building and Rural Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary France
J. Byun
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Soldier, State: Society: Conscription and Battlefield Effectiveness in the Modern Era
M. Cabal
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Reconstruction after Revolution: Literacy and Land Reform in Southern Mexico
A. Chandra
PhD Student, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations
Neglected Terror: Bajrang Dal and Hindu Nationalism in India
H. Dancy
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
The Geo-referenced 19th Century Insurgencies
R. Mardini
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Rebel in Society: Social Networks and the Regeneration of the Islamic State
L. Martínez
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Does Conflict Reduce Investment? Evidence from the Demand for Agricultural Credit in Colombia
L. Montenegro Helfer
PhD Candidate, Harris Public Policy
Market Access and Ethnic Identity
E. Osborn
Associate Professor, Department of History
The Anthropocene from the Edge of a West African River
R. Sánchez de la Sierra
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Insights into the Administration of Non-state Armed Organizations - Evidence from the Largest Militia of Eastern DRC
M. Stevens
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Covert Violence and Shades of Deniability: Forced Disappearance Across Latin America
R. Wolfe
Assistant Instructional Professor, Harris Public Policy
Local Leaders' Role in Resolving Disputes: A Study of Farmer-Herder Conflict in Northern Nigeria
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund 2020 Awardees
2020 Awardees
M. Albertus
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Pacifying the Countryside in Spain
G. Bates
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Holding their Feet to the Fire: Negotiated Accountability in the Shadow of the International Community
M.A. Bautista, L. Martinez
Assistant Professors, Harris Public Policy
The Political Consequences of Restrictions to Higher Education under Dictatorship
L. Bursztyn
Professor, Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Propaganda, Excuses, and Conflict
A. Chinchilla
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Aid, Arms, and Advisors: Limited Intervention in Conflict
F. del Villar
PhD Student, Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Corruption and Law Enforcement in the Mexican Drug Trade
J. Decety
Professor, Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Promoting prosocial behavior among children in the Great Lakes Region
J. DePoyster
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Conflict and Coercion within African Political Parties
S. Henn, R. Sanchez de la Sierra
Postdoctoral Scholar and Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
"Democracy" without a monopoly of violence?
B. Herre
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Ideology, Redistribution, and Civil Conflict: Evidence from Democracies and Dictatorships
K. Klaus
PhD Student, Divinity School
Unintended “Others”: Excesses of Confidence Building and Development in Cyprus
Z. Luo, M. Nalepa
Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Testing a Theory of Authoritarian Backsliding with a Survey Experiment in Poland
L. Montenegro Helfer
PhD Student, Harris Public Policy
Setting the Foundations for Apartheid: The Politics of Economic Distortion in the Cape of Good Hope
M. Morales
PhD Candidate, Harris Public Policy
Forced Migration and Social Tensions: The Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
R. Sanchez de la Sierra
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Who joins armed organizations? Moral sentiments, economic incentives, and social norms
A. Uribe
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Democratic Capture and Competitive Statebuilding in Civil War
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund 2019 Awardees
2019 Awardees
M. Albertus, N. Schouela
Associate Professor and PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Rural Unrest and Land Reform in Portugal
G. Bates
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Holding Their Feet to the Fire: Institutions, Elites, and Accountability During and After Conflict
N. Beckmann Tessel
PhD Candidate, Department of History
The Terrorism Threat in Iran: Causes, Responses, and Consequences
L. Burzstyn
Assistant Professor, Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Disguising Xenophobia through Economic Narratives
A. Chilton
Assistant Professor, The Law School
Promoting Peaceful Migration – the Role of International Treaties
A. Chinchilla
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Aid, Arms, and Advisors: Limited Intervention in Conflict
M. Cremin
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
May It Please the Court: Explaining Variation in Effective Prosecution of Organized Crime
J. DePoyster
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Party Youth Violence in New Democracies: Intra-Party Conflict in West Africa
M. Gonzales
PhD Student, Harris Public Policy
Unintended consequences of anti-corruption programs
B. Herre
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Ideology, Economic Policy and Civil Conflict: Evidence from Democracies and Dictatorships
K. Klaus
PhD Student, Divinity School
Restoring Heritage, Developing Peace
L. Li
PhD Candidate, Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Build roads, not arsenals: the effect of foreign infrastructure investment on reducing domestic armed conflicts
R. Mardini
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Social Networks, Wartime Consolidation, and the Regeneration of the Islamic State
L. Martinez
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Initial Conditions and Nation Building: Evidence from East Germany
M. Morales
PhD Student, Harris Public Policy
Forced Migration and Social Tensions: The Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
M. Nalepa
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Post-Authoritarian Purges and Regime Institutionalization: A Global Dataset
A. Uribe
PhD Student, Political Science
Grievance and Participation in Violent Democracies
A. Wright, K. Sonin
Assistant Professor and John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor, Harris Public Policy
Counterinsurgency and Peacebuilding through Influence Campaigns
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund 2018 Awardees
2018 Awardees
M. Albertus, V. Gay
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
and PhD Student, Department of Economics
Land Tenure and Rural Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary France
G. Bates
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
The Impact of International Pressure on Institutional Design in Colombia
M. Bunn
PhD Candidate, School of Social Service Administration
Restoring Social Bonds in Refugee Survivors of Torture and Severe Violence
M. Cabal
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Autocratic Nation Building: Public Schooling and Political Control in Mexico’s Indigenous South
N. Campbell-Seremetis
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Reasoning with Madmen: The Impact of Perceived Irrationality on Preferences for Diplomacy vs Force
J. DePoyster
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Electoral Coercion and Local Democratic Representation in Ghana
C. Fratto
PhD Candidate, Department of Economics
Effect of Mobility Restrictions on Firms’ Performance in the West Bank
B. Herre
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Political Coalitions and Social Conflict
I. Hock
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Violent Entrepreneurship in South Africa: Political Violence, Rent Seeking and Informal Urban Transitions
M. Laverde, A. Wright
PhD Student and Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Civilian Collaboration and Violence in Civil Wars
B. Lessing
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Armed Electioneering as Effect and Measure of Criminal Governance
R. Mardini
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
The Unraveling of Iraq's Tribal State: Intra-Ethnic Dynamics and the Rise of the Islamic State
L. Martinez
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Long-Term Effects of Sexual Violence During Conflict: Evidence from the End of WWII
E. McFee
PhD Student, Department of Comparative Human Development
Postconflict Precarity: Trust Building and Community Interventions after War in Colombia
A. Mir
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Mapping Political and Military Violence in Algeria, 1954-1962
M. Morales
PhD Student, Harris Public Policy
Limited Legal Status and Human Capital Investments: The Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
M. Nalepa
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Transitional Justice and the Quality of Political Representation: Testing the Empirical Implications of a Formal Model
A. Uribe
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Grievance and Governance in Civil War
K. Weng
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Explaining Armed Actor Co-optation by Weak States: The Mixed Success of Nationalist China
A. Zarychta
Assistant Professor, School of Social Service Administration
Fostering Political Tolerance in Times of Crisis: Attitudes toward Syrian Refugees in Turkey
The Pearson Institute Research and Innovation Fund 2017 Awardees
2017 Awardees
M. Albertus
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Land Reform and Civil Conflict: Theory and Evidence from Peru
M.A. Bautista
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Long-Term Effects of Human Rights Violations during the Pinochet Dictatorship
M. Bunn
PhD Candidate, School of Social Service Administration
Restoring Social Bonds in Survivors of Torture and Severe Violence: A Study Exploring the Effects of Group-Based Treatment on the Social Resources of Syrian Refugees
J. DePoyster
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Evaluating the Effects of Anti-Electoral Violence Policies on Democratic Consolidation in Ghana
M. Gonzales
PhD Student, Harris Public Policy
National Resource Shocks, Social Conflicts, and Preferences for Redistribution—Evidence from Peru
I. Hock
PhD Student, Department of Political Science
Urban Violence in Young Democracies: Evidence from South Africa
S. Jaffrey
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Authoritarian Origins of Vigilante Violence and Quotidian Order in Democratic Indonesia
A. Mann Carey
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
‘I Felt the Hand of the Government in my Womb’: Black Women, State Violence, and the Transnational Struggle for Life in Brazil and Colombia
L. Martinez
Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Trade Liberalization and Political Violence: Evidence from Colombia
A. Mir
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Explaining Effectiveness in Modern Counterinsurgency
O. Namen
PhD Candidate, Harris Public Policy
Human Capital Accumulation under Threat of Insurgent Violence
P. Staniland
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Revolutionary Insurgency in Democracies: Theory and Evidence from Southern Asia
G. Velez
PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative Human Development
Youth as ‘Peace Builders’: An Analysis of the Colombian Peace Education Law
A. Wright, T. Fetzer
Assistant Professor and Visiting Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Security Transitions