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Dr Olivier J. Walther is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Florida and the coordinator of the African Networks Lab. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. His current research focuses on cross-border trade and transnational political violence in West Africa. Dr. Walther is an Associate Editor of Political Geography and a “chief” of the African Borderlands Research Network. Email: owalther@ufl.edu. Bluesky: @ojwalther.bsky.social
Lacey Harris-Coble is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on how border closures, disease outbreaks, droughts, and climatic factors affect regional trade in West Africa. She holds a Master of Sustainable Development Practice from the University of Florida. Previously she was a project and research assistant at the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems. Email: lharriscoble@ufl.edu
David G. Russell is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida. He holds a MSc in Geography from the University of Idaho. His research has focused on quantifying the spatio-temporal patterns of political violence. Mr. Russell has conducted research at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., and worked as a consultant to the OECD/SWAC, and as a research analyst at Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative. Email: david.russell@ufl.edu
Partners
Dr Steven M. Radil is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and Geosciences at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Radil is a political geographer and primarily researches the spatial dimensions of political violence in the international system, including civil war, insurgency, and terrorism. He has methodological expertise in spatial analysis, social network analysis, and Geographic Information Science. Email: steven.radil@afacademy.af.edu
Dr Moustapha Koné is an Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Niamey, Niger. His research focuses on cross-border trade in West Africa and the role of business communities in border regions. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Bordeaux. Dr. Koné has worked as a consultant for the Stanford University’s Immigration Policy Lab. Email: konemoustapha723@gmail.com.
Dr Rafael Prieto Curiel is a Faculty Member at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from University College London, and worked at Oxford University and for the Police Department in Mexico City modeling spatio-temporal patterns of crime and road accidents. His research has focused on constructing quantitative models of social aspects such as crime, fear of crime, violence, migration, and terrorism. Email: prieto-curiel@csh.ac.at Twitter: @rafaelprietoc
Dr Matthew Pflaum is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Bergen University. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Florida. He is interested in dimensions of insecurity including borders, urbanization, governance, gender, mobility, and livelihoods in the Sahel. Email: matthew.pflaum@uib.no Twitter: @PflaumMatthew
Dr Valerie C. Valerio’s research focuses on using data and simulation models of value chains to study livestock production, distribution and consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa. Valerie has recently worked in mapping livestock trade networks in West Africa. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the University of Florida. E-mail: valerievalerioh@gmail.com
Dr Nick Dorward is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Southampton, UK. He holds a Ph.D. in Human Geography from the University of Bristol. The primary focus of his research surrounds modelling the causes and consequences of urbanization, conflict, and political change in African cities. Methodologically, he is interested in the application of multilevel modelling, spatial statistics, and causal inference to political-geographic questions. E-mail: n.dorward@soton.ac.uk
Students
- Peter Kostantinov, University of Florida (2024)
- Stefani Wald, University of Florida (2023)
- John Weidner, University of Florida (2023)
- Jason Scheuer, University of Florida (2022)
- Joseph Padron, University of Florida (2022)
- Susanna Goewey, University of Florida (2020-2022)
- Maria Uribasterra, University of Florida (2021)
- Hye Ryeon (Helen) Jang, University of Florida (2018)