Sally Sharif (PhD City University of New York, 2021) focuses on state-society relations during and after war, explaining why civil wars begin or recur. She is especially interested in peacebuilding; post-conflict state consolidation; and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs. Prior to joining the Department, Sally was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame.

Her doctoral dissertation and book project analyzes DDR programs on the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels. Through analysis of three original datasets, she shows how DDR is linked to rebel cohesion and post-conflict political bargaining, and how these two processes shape the prospects for peace. The dissertation involved extensive field research with ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and employed mixed methods, including natural experiments, simultaneous equations modeling, machine learning, and within- and cross-case process tracing.

Her work has appeared in International Peacekeeping; Political Violence and Terrorism; Territory, Politics, Governance; Defence and Peace Economics; Studies in Conflict and Terrorism; Human Rights Quarterly; and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Project for Return. Her policy analysis has been published by The Washington Post, the Peace Accords Matrix Policy Brief Series, and Political Violence at a Glance.

She has received the Mitacs Globalink Research Award for Social and Scientific Innovation (2023); the American Political Science Association (APSA) First Generation Scholar Award (2022); the City University of New York Joseph Murphy Award for best conference paper (2021); and the Ivo Duchasek Award for best graduate student publication (2019).

Outside academia, Sally is a triathlete and is deeply concerned by environmental degradation, which is apparent first and foremost in our mountains and lakes.