Lead supervisor:
Prof Berit Bliesemann de Guevara 
Start date: October 2014
Award: General
Subject Pathway:
Politics, International Relations and Global Language Based Area Studies
Thematic Cluster:
Rights and Governance Cluster
NGOs and the production of conflict knowledge
My research looks into the role international non-governmental organisations and think-tanks play as producers of conflict-related knowledge. This thesis looks to build on a fledgling scholarly literature on the synthesis of knowledge production and the study of non-state actors, through focusing on two major Western NGOs: Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group. These research-based organisations are of particular interest due to their accumulation of an authoritative voice in the eyes of international policymakers, the media and within academic scholarship. Here, I am interested in critically analysing the methodologies they deploy in their research and reporting activities, and the political, bureaucratic, social and cultural imperatives which help structure their subsequent analyses and policy recommendations.