I am the Director of the Global Security Programme and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Pembroke College, and Senior Research Fellow at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. I am further Senior Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations, and affiliate at the Latin American Centre. I am former (2019 – 2021) Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. I am Research Associate at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute Geneva. I hold a doctorate from the Department of International Development and St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
My work focuses on global security in the contemporary world. I study evolving security dynamics in the context of armed conflict, unstable regions, and the global illicit economy, transitions from war to peace, and state responses to insecurity. I am particularly interested in the role that diverse types of violent non-state groups play in these dynamics. Among other areas, I focus on the political economy of borderlands as spaces where criminal, terrorist, and conflict dynamics converge. Methodologically, I am fascinated by the use of ethnographic methods in Political Science and International Relations, as well as multi-methods research. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in war-torn and crisis-affected regions, including in and on Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Myanmar and Kenya (on Somalia).
Ongoing Projects:
- The Global Security Programme: Contested Cross-border Spaces, Illicit Flows and Order in the Contemporary World, funded by the Minerva Research Initiative (Principal Investigator)
- The Changing Character of Conflict Platform: Understanding, Tracing and Forecasting Change across Time, Space and Cultures, funded by AHRC/ESRC (Principal Investigator)
- Transitions and Social Cohesion in Contexts of Multiple Crises, funded by the OX/BER Initiative (Principal Investigator, with Sérgio Costa)
- From Conflict Actors to Architects of Peace: Promoting Security and Development across Borders, funded by Canada Global Affairs (Principal Investigator)
- From Conflict Actors to Architects of Peace: Justice, Peace, and Politics in the Creation of a Lasting Peace in Colombia’s Marginalised Regions, funded by the Oxford-Berlin Research Partnership Seed Grant (Principal Investigator, with Sérgio Costa)
Completed Projects:
- Beyond the War on Drugs: The International Drug Control Regime in the 21st Century (in collaboration with Juan Carlos Garzón, Woodrow Wilson Center)
- From Conflict Actors to Architects of Peace: Changing Security Landscapes Viewed from the Margins, funded by the UK Global Challenges Research Fund, Higher Education Funding Council for England (Principal Investigator)
- From Conflict Actors to Architects of Peace: Promoting Human Security in Colombia and Internationally, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Principal Investigator)
- Implementing a Ceasefire and Ending Armed Conflict: How to enhance human security and cross-border development in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela (Principal Investigator, in collaboration with UN Colombia)
- Putting Frontier Research into Action: Tackling Violent Non-state Groups in Peripheral Spaces (in collaboration with UN Colombia and the UN System Staff College)
- Towards Sustainable Peace in Colombia and the World: A Critical Perspective on Army Transformation
- Dynamics of War and Peace: Drama, Poetry, Music and Dance (in collaboration with Rama Mani, Theatre of Transformation)
- Negotiating with Armed Actors: Peace Communities in Colombia (in collaboration with Cécile Mouly and Belen Garrido, FLACSO Quito)
Here are some highlights of my work:
Contact: annette.idler(at)pmb.ox.ac.uk; annetteirisidler(at)gmail.com
Annette Idler 
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