Ashley Jackson is a PhD candidate at King’s College London and a Research Associate at the Overseas Development Institute, an independent think tank in London.

Her primary focus is on mediation and negotiation with armed groups.  She has conducted dialogue with and researched some 27 armed factions across 13 countries, including the Afghan Taliban, Al-Shabaab, various Syrian factions, Hamas and others. She has also advised the UN, the Red Cross, Geneva Call and others on humanitarian access and negotiating with armed groups.   Her ongoing doctoral research focuses on the ways in which Islamist insurgencies seek to govern territories and populations under their control.  She is currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan, and traveling the country to better understand how the Taliban governs.

Prior to this, she worked as a Political Affairs Officer with the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, Head of Policy for Oxfam in Kabul and an advisor on Afghanistan to the UK Parliament.  She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and a MSc in Gender and Development from the London School of Economics.

Fun fact: Ashley was once briefly detained for witchcraft in Central African Republic (but swears she is totally innocent).