Professor Alice Hills

Profile

I was professor of conflict and security at the University of Leeds, 2005-2013, before taking up the chair of conflict studies at Durham University, 2013-2017. My research and teaching for Leeds focused on counter-insurgency in cities, security governance and Nigeria's police force but before that I taught defence studies at the UK's Joint Services Command and Staff College where I specialised in urban operations, post-conflict operations and police-military relations.

I hold a doctorate in war studies from the University of London and my publications include books on 'Policing Africa: Internal security and the limits of liberalization' (Lynne Rienner), 'Future war in cities: Rethinking a liberal dilemma' (Cass), 'Policing post-conflict cities' (Zed) and 'Making Mogadishu safe: Localisation, policing and sustainable security' (Taylor & Francis).

Research interests

My research focuses on police development in Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya. This work is funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme on 'Fight against crime and terrorism: Enhancing co-operation between law enforcement agencies and citizens/community policing'. Publications discussing my research findings include:

'Making Mogadishu safe: Localisation, policing and sustainable security',  Whitehall Papers 91 (Taylor & Francis: 2018).

'Is there anybody there? Police, communities and communications technology in Hargeisa', Stability (2017) 6. DOI http://doi.org/10.5334/sta.491.

'Off-road policing - communications technology and government authority in Somaliland', International Affairs (2016) 92/5: 1061-1078.

'Making Mogadishu safe', RUSI Journal (2016), 161/6: 10-16.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>