Joanne Richards

Biography

BA (Oxon) 2002; MA (Oxon) 2002; MA Political Science 2009; PhD Political Science 2014. Joanne wrote her PhD on demobilization and desertion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. During her doctoral candidacy she also worked as a consultant with the Small Arms Survey in Geneva, and as an intern with the DDR section of UNDP in Goma, North Kivu. Joanne has conducted over one hundred interviews with former members of militia and rebel groups in the DRC, and has conducted additional fieldwork in Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste. Since joining BICC, her focus has broadened to include small arms control in the Sahel region, and Countering Violent Extremism in Somalia. She is also currently seconded as a Technical Advisor to the African Union Defense and Security Division.