Welcome! Thank you for visiting my website. I am a Max Weber Fellow and Part-Time Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods at the European University Institute, based in Florence, Italy. I received my DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford in 2024. Previously, I was a PhD Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). I am also a Fellow at the Centre on Armed Groups, based in Geneva.

I am a political scientist researching civil war, political violence and peace-building. I have a particular interest in local dynamics of violence, communal conflicts, civilian agency, action and behaviour in contemporary war zones. I am broadly interested in investigating how ordinary people treat each other during war, how war tears societies apart and disrupts social relations, and why people take extraordinary risks to “go against the grain” during wartime. I have conducted fieldwork in Mali, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Somalia. Methodologically, I draw on a range of qualitative methods including interviews, participant observation and archival work.

My book project “Communities on the Frontline: Civilians, Grievances and Civil War” examines why civilians respond differently to rebellion. Drawing on immersive fieldwork and hundreds of interviews with war-affected people from Central Mali, the book’s central argument is that civilians embedded in local rivalries repurpose grievances to motivate high-risk mobilisation. In 2025, the doctoral thesis on which the book is based was awarded the Michael Nicholson award for Best Thesis in International Studies from the British International Studies Association. 

Prior to starting my PhD at Oxford, I have been a Research Fellow at NUPI, where I conducted research on insurgencies in the Sahel and peace operations in conflict affected contexts mainly in Africa. At NUPI I was seconded to the African Union, in the Peace Operations Division as a Policy Officer between 2016-2017. Prior to joining NUPI, I have interned in various non-governmental organisations, such as Human Rights Watch in London and Relief International in Colombo. I have a bachelor in European Social and Political Studies, specialising in International Relations and French from University College London and an MSc in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Email: natasja.rupesinghe@eui.eu

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