Title of PhD: Mapping Memories: Improving post-conflict reconstruction through understanding collective memory of conflict
Supervisors: Dr Dominique Moran, Professor Jon Coaffee
Elly Harrowell is undertaking ESRC funded doctoral research into the relationship between urban space and collective memory, specifically in post-conflict contexts. She is interested in how power relations are ingrained in planning decisions, how the post-conflict reconstruction process can become more representative of communities. She will use qualitative methodologies to map how different the different social groups that share urban space remember conflict through the built environment, in order to prevent the perpetuation of structural violence and drivers of conflict in reconstruction and regeneration initiatives.
After finishing her MA in Conflict Resolution at University of Bradford, Elly worked for a variety of organisations, including at the UK Delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, and most recently with the campaigning organization Global Witness. Here she worked on the conflict diamonds campaign, representing civil society in international meetings and media campaigns, and researching and writing a groundbreaking report on the human rights abuses in the Zimbabwean diamond sector.
Research interests
Collective memory, urban governance, post-conflict reconstruction, natural resource governance