People should not only be counted; they should have a role in deciding what counts.
I am an associate professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy where I teach in the Global Sustainability Policy Master’s Program. My research explores how the everyday intersects with peace, security and governance, with particular attention to the ways that marginalized voices articulate alternative visions of justice and security. My research demonstrates how everyday practices of peace and resistance unsettle conventional categories of international relations and advances methodological innovation through “participatory numbers,” which bridge the rigor of quantitative approaches with the contextual depth of participatory qualitative research. Exemplified in the Everyday Peace Indicators project, which I co-founded and lead, this work provides policymakers with empirically rigorous yet locally grounded insights. Across my scholarship, I remain theoretically informed, empirically grounded, and committed to policy relevance, particularly in relation to peace, development and human rights.
I earned my PhD in Development Studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute. I also hold an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and an MA in International Relations & Peace and Conflict Studies from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I was a Rotary Peace Scholar. In my book Reclaiming Everyday Peace: Local Voices in Measurement and Evaluation after War (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which won the 2020 Conflict Research Society Book of the Year award, I demonstrate how community-generated indicators reveal intersections of gender, class, race, and coloniality in shaping lived experiences of peace and security. This work, alongside more than thirty peer reviewed articles published in high-ranking journals such as World Development, International Affairs, International Journal of Transitional Justice, Sociological Methods and Research and International Political Sociology, advances a participatory methodological approach that foregrounds everyday voices while contributing to broader theoretical debates.
My current research examines how data is used in knowledge production and conflict response, particularly in an era where AI intensifies the challenges of relying on data gathered at a distance from the very populations it claims to represent. I currently have a book under contract with Oxford University Press entitled “The Data Myth: Can Better Data Lead to Better Conflict Response?” (with Roger Mac Ginty). This book, an elaboration of an article published in 2024, argues that the rush for speed and “objectivity” when using data can obscure power, distort evidence and undermine meaningful action when it comes to responding to conflict. It makes the case for ethical, critical and patient approaches to data that expose power dynamics and rethink what counts as “evidence.” By slowing down and asking harder questions, it shows how data can be used more responsibly to support meaningful responses in conflict-affected societies.
I have a robust track record of obtaining research funding at both the university and the Everyday Peace Indicators NGO (which I established in 2018) from a diversity of private and public funders, including the biggest grant given by the US Institute of Peace in its 35+ year history, as well as the largest evaluation commissioned by the Inter-American Foundation since its founding in 1969. I have received several fellowships and visiting invitations from institutions such as Fulbright, the US Institute of Peace, where I was a Senior Jennings Randolph Fellow, Uppsala University, the European University Institute in Fiesole and the Rotary Foundation. I am also a research fellow of the Center for Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Geneva Graduate Institute. I have served as a consultant to international organizations and INGOs such as International Alert, Search for Common Ground, and the World Bank.
Prior to arriving at Brandeis, I was an assistant professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University’s Carter School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Previous to my position at GMU, I was a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies where I taught undergraduate and graduate courses and served as the Associate Director of the PhD program in Peace Studies. Before entering academia, I worked for several NGOs on the worldwide campaign to stop the spread of illicit small arms and light weapons. This enabled me to work closely with civil society and international organizations to experience first hand the challenges confronting human security today. These experiences led me to my current scholarly work which is situated in villages and neighborhoods affected by conflict.
“As a scholar and practitioner my work goes beyond the University, which means that my research goal is to impact policy, practice and people through academic inquiry.”
Pamina Firchow
