About me
A lapis lazuli warehouse in Kabul, Afghanistan. Renard Sexton, April 2012.
My research uses fieldwork and quantitative methods, including natural and randomized experiments, to explore the causes and effects of conflict in the developing world. This includes the implications of aid, democracy promotion and military action. Contexts I know particularly well are Afghanistan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Taiwan and the South China Sea region (as well as the Indo-Pacific more broadly).
I also work on policy issues related to security and development, including through collaborations with the International Crisis Group, the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the UN Foundation, the Philippine National Police, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, USIP and the Heinrich Boell Foundation.
To date my research has been supported financially by the National Science Foundation, Jameel-Poverty Action Lab, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Carnegie Corporation of NY, Innovations for Poverty Action, USAID, International Growth Centre, Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany), CEGA/EDI, and Colciencias, among others. I’ve held fellowships from Luce-Mansfield Asia Scholars program, Wilson Center China program and Southeast Asia Research Group. During the 2022-23 academic year I served as an advisor at USINDOPACOM on a Council on Foreign Relations ‘International Affairs Fellowship’ working on China/Taiwan matters.
I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at New York University. Before starting at Emory, I was an Economics of Conflict Fellow at the International Crisis Group and Princeton University (Niehaus Center in 2017-18 & Empirical Studies of Conflict 2018-19). Before graduate school, I worked for the United Nations and NGOs in Switzerland, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Ecuador, as well as contributing to journalistic outlets.
I’m also a co-founder of Evaluasi, a start-up focused on improving impact evaluation for social good programming in the private and public sectors.
Get in touch: renard (dot) sexton (at) emory (dot) edu