Melani is a professor of Government (political science) and the Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Her work centers on identity politics, intergroup relations, and development, and many of her current research projects explore the nexus between politicized identity-based conflict and socioeconomic factors. Read more here.

During the 2021-2022 academic year, Melani will be visiting the Mitchell Institute to work on a new book, which focuses on local-level intergroup relations after conflict.

In addition to Northern Ireland, she is working in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lebanon, where she has previously conducted extensive research, to compare the nature of relations across different subnational localities. The goal of the project is to move beyond tests of the “contact hypothesis” in order to explore the local and supra-local socioeconomic and political factors that explain why some places exhibit more extensive and collaborative patterns of intergroup relations while other are or remain more polarized. The research is based on a mixed methods design, which entails qualitative and quantitative data collection through in-depth interviews with local elites, survey research in a representative sample of wards and constituencies in Northern Ireland, and analyses of archival and secondary sources.

During her tenure as Visiting Scholar, Melani will be working on a new book, which focuses on local-level intergroup relations after conflict.

Following on from her recent visit and meeting Institute staff and students, Melani said; “I am delighted to be part of the Mitchell Institute and QUB and to work with several excellent graduate students at the University”.