Welcome!

I am a Reader (Associate Professor) at the Department of Government, University of Essex, and a fellow at the Michael Nicholson Centre for Conflict and Cooperation.  I am also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of Methodology, London School of Economics. I received my PhD from the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz. I also hold an M.A. from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.

On this website, you can find information on my research and teaching. 

My main research interest lies in governance, the political economy of development, and conflict, with a regional focus on Africa and indigenous North America. My most recent work focuses on domestic sources of foreign policy formulation in Africa, land rights, as well as research transparency in qualitative methods. With colleagues, I also won an ESRC Large Research Grant (2023-2027) on multilingualism, conflict and conflict resolution in Africa. I employ a variety of approaches, combining applied qualitative and mixed methods, surveys, case studies, and fieldwork. With my colleague Hannah Gibson, I also run the Africa Special Interest Group (ASIG), the hub for research on Africa the University of Essex.

In recent years, my research has been generously supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the ESRC Global Challenges Research Fund, the Robert Bosch Foundation, the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF), the Gerda Henkel Foundation, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Contact

Department of Government

University of Essex

Room 5.302

Wivenhoe Park

Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom

+44 (0)1206 87-2745

fkern@essex.ac.uk