ADAM LICHTENHELD, PHD
I am an​ Assistant Professor in Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, and International Relations at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. I am also a Faculty Affiliate and the former Executive Director of the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University. My research explores the dynamics of forced displacement, conflict, political violence, and peacebuilding, and I have worked with governments, donors, and NGOs to design and evaluate humanitarian and development programs in a dozen countries. I am the author of Guilt by Location: Forced Displacement and Population Sorting in Civil Wars, winner of the 2025 Conflict Research Society Book of the Year Prize. My work is published in International Organization, Political Geography, the British Journal of Political Science, and Economics & Politics, along with the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Just Security, The New Humanitarian, and the Conversation. I teaach courses on forced migration, conflict, peacebuilding, and research methods.
I received my Ph.D. in political science (international relations) from the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, I was the a Senior Researcher at Mercy Corps, and a Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. I have also worked as a consultant for UNHCR, the World Bank, the Danish Refugee Council, Refugees International, and USAID; reported for National Geographic in Jordan; and managed USAID-funded stabilization and political transition programs in Afghanistan, Libya, and Pakistan.​​​
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You can contact me at a.g.lichtenheld (at) umail.leidenuniv.nl.
Ein Issa Displacement Camp, Raqqa, Syria