Our Team
Enzo Nussio
Enzo Nussio is a Research Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich. Enzo graduated in History from the University of Basel (2005) and holds a PhD in International Affairs and Governance from the University of St. Gallen (2011). During and after his PhD, he spent several years in Colombia. There, he worked as a postdoc for the Universidad de los Andes and as a lecturer at the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá. He was also a postdoc at the Institute of Latin American Studies at Stockholm University. From 2016 to 2024, he served as a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich.
Geraldine Bustos Zamora
Geraldine Bustos Zamora is a postdoc at University of Zurich’s Department of Political Science and member of the Decades of Peace team. She holds a PhD in Government from the University of Essex. Her research examines ideology in civil wars, with a particular focus on rebel groups in Latin America. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, she studies ideological positioning and change among these groups, and how ideology shapes peace agreements and the use of violence. She earned Master’s degrees in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and in Political Studies from the National University of Colombia, as well as a BA in Political Science from the University of La Sabana. Geraldine has taught and conducted research at the University of Essex, the University of La Sabana, and the National University of Colombia.
Laura Marcela Zúñiga Ordóñez
Laura Marcela Zúñiga Ordóñez is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Zurich’s Department of Political Science and a member of the Decades of Peace project, supervised by Enzo Nussio. Her research examines civilian agency and community resistance under protracted conflict, focusing on how communities interact with, adapt to, and contest armed and state governance. Her work engages debates on rebel governance, state–society relations, and local political orders, with a regional focus on Colombia and Latin America. Methodologically, she combines qualitative case studies, process tracing, and historical analysis. She holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg and has previously worked as a lecturer and as a researcher at InSight Crime, the International Crisis Group, and the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP).
Fabio Theiler
Fabio Theiler is a research assistant in the Decades of Peace team. Fabio earned his bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in philosophy from the University of Zurich in 2024. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in political science at the University of Zurich. An exchange semester in Spain sparked Fabio’s growing interest in both Iberian and Latin American politics.
Emilie Ammann
Emilie Ammann is a research assistant in the Decades of Peace team. She is pursuing a master’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Law at the University of Zurich. She earned her bachelor's degree in both subjects from the same university, where she developed an interest in conflict and peace studies.
Jonas Bischofberger
Jonas Bischofberger is a research assistant in the Decades of Peace team. He earned his bachelor’s degree in social sciences at the University of Bern in 2025. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in political science at the University of Zürich with a focus on political data journalism.
Naemi Valdivia Rojas
Naemi Valdivia Rojas (she) is a research assistant in the Decades of Peace team. Currently she pursues a Master’s student in the Comparative and International Studies program at ETH Zurich. Both academically and personally, her interests lie at the intersection of political violence (particularly violence against women and gender queer individuals), the political participation of marginalized groups, and geopolitical power structures. Methodologically, she has thus far focused primarily on quantitative and decolonial approaches. Regionally, she specializes in Latin America.
Maria Wani
Maria Wani is a research assistant in the Decades of Peace team. She completed her BA in Political Science from NYU Abu Dhabi in 2025. She is currently enrolled in MACIS (the Masters in Comparative and International Studies) at ETH Zurich and has a special interest in conflict and post-conflict processes. She is especially interested in the intersection of peace studies with gender, media studies, and refugee/displacement.
Mira von Fournier
Mira von Fournier is a research assistant with the Decades of Peace team. She holds a bachelor's degree in politics and economics from University College Utrecht in the Netherlands and is currently pursuing a master's degree in comparative and international studies at ETH Zurich. Her academic background combines perspectives from political science and economics, with an initial focus on development studies that gradually sparked a growing interest in conflict and peace.
Advisory Board
Juan Masullo
Juan Masullo is a member of the Decades of Peace advisory board. Juan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Milan and a research affiliate at Leiden University. In Milan, he co-convenes the Milan Conflict Research Seminar (MiCoRes) and the UNIMI–Bocconi Political Science Seminar. Before joining the University of Milan, he was a tenured Assistant Professor at Leiden University and previously a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) and an Associate Member of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. He received his PhD from the European University Institute in 2017. His research integrates different methods and forms of evidence. He studies how individuals and communities respond to violence, the legacies these responses leave and how exposure to violence shapes political attitudes and behavior.
Andrea Ruggeri
Andrea Ruggeri is member of the Decades of Peace advisory board. Andrea is a professor of Political Science at the Dipartimento di Scienze sociali e politiche of the Università degli studi di Milano. Previously, he was professor of Political Science and International Relations and Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Oxford. Before joining Brasenose College and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford in 2014 he was Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Amsterdam from 2010. He holds a PhD in Government from the University of Essex (2011). His current research deals with political violence, civil wars and peace operations. He is the coauthor of “Composing Peace” ( OUP, 2020) and author of “Nazionalismo e Internazionalismo” (Donzelli, 2026), he serves as associate editor for the Journal of Peace Research.
Abbey Steele
Abbey Steele is a member of the Decades of Peace advisory board. Abbey is an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Amsterdam, and founder of the Amsterdam Conflict Research Network (ACoRN). She is co-PI of the research priority area Conflict & Society at the UvA, and on the board of the Amsterdam Center for Conflict Studies, which she previously directed. Abbey holds a PhD from Yale University. In her research, she uses mixed methods to study displacement during civil wars and responses to it by states and civilians, and how international institutions constrain non-violent, democratic order within Latin America. Beginning in 2026, she will be PI of the ERC-funded project Protect & Repress: Government Responses to Internal Displacement (GRID).
Peace Research Fellows 2026
Noyonika Das
Noyonika Das is a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam, which she received in 2025. Her dissertation, Violence for Control: Explaining Violent Local Elections in India, examined how political parties use violence to shape local electoral competition and establish political control. Her research focuses on political violence, democratic backsliding, and South Asia. She is especially interested in election violence, party organization, and subnational conflict dynamics. Her work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, and her doctoral research was awarded the Sydney Bailey Prize by the Conflict Research Society.
Hyunjung Park
Hyunjung Park is a Research Fellow for the Beyond Compliance Consortium in the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2024. Her research agenda centers on the strategies of non-state armed groups and their implications for conflict dynamics, peacebuilding, and international security. At its core, her work examines the relationships between rebel groups and civilians, with particular attention to how wartime governance shapes post-conflict stability and political development. She uses a range of methods, including cross-national statistical analysis and in-depth case studies, to investigate these issues.
Bruno Pantaleão
Bruno Pantaleão is a FAPESP postdoctoral researcher at FGV Analytics, Fundação Getulio Vargas. He has experience in the field of Public Policy, with an emphasis on the following topics: violence, crime, economic development, and public policy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Ibmec (2015), a master’s degree in Economics and Public Policy from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) (2019), and a PhD in Public Administration and Government from Fundação Getulio Vargas (2024). Bruno has published in journals such as Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, World Development, American Political Science Review, Latin American Politics and Society, and Journal of Development Economics.
Sebastian Pantoja-Barrios
Sebastian Pantoja-Barrios is an independent doctoral researcher and lecturer at Leiden University. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam and a Master’s degree in Economics from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). Drawing on panel survey data and qualitative evidence collected in conflict-affected regions of Colombia, his research examines citizens’ political participation in war-torn democracies and how it is shaped by changes in state capacity and forced displacement. He has also worked as a senior researcher in academia at Universidad de los Andes (2016–2018 and 2023–2026) and in the private sector at Ipsos (2018–2021), as well as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (2021 and 2023–2024).