Changing global political, humanitarian, media and public understanding and actions on political violence

Research by geographers on incidents of violence and conflict worldwide, through the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project, is informing strategy and policy to better allocate resources within conflict-affected states.

 

Issue

The lack of evidence on incidents of conflict and violence worldwide has resulted in the journalistic mis-representation of events as well as poorly evidenced policy on resource allocation in places affected by conflict.  

 

Approach

Geographers at the University of Sussex designed and implemented a state-of-the-art conflict measurement and collection system through a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project, ACLED, that collects the dates, actors, types of violence, locations, and the number of fatalities of all reported political violence and protest events across the globe.

 

Impact

ACLED data have been used to inform and support the decision-making capacity of governments and governmental bodies, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Ministry of Defence (MOD), UK Home Office; US State Department; US Department of Defence; United Nations, African Union; European Union and others.

ACLED data have also been used by INGOs (international non-governmental humanitarian organisations) involved in crisis response and mitigation of conflicts and violence, including: the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Austrian Red Cross, Darfur Women Action, Save the Children, Search for Common Ground, the World Bank and others.

ACLED is used by asylum caseworkers, Country of Origin Information (COI) researchers, policy-makers, and decision-making authorities across the EU to gauge the potential for, and needs of, displaced and conflict-affected communities. 

 

More information

• Read the full impact case study in the REF21 database

• Impact case studies REF21 - University of Sussex

Institution: University of Sussex

Researchers: Professor Clionadh Raleigh