Erik Melander is a professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research and the Director of the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament at Uppsala University. His previous positions include Director of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP); core faculty member of the Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; Adjunct Research Professor at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame University, USA; and Visiting Honorary Research Associate at the University of Natal, South Africa. His research interests include the causes and dynamics of armed conflict, peace processes, as well as gender. He has experience from research fieldwork in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kenya, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, and the Yugoslav Federation. In 1996, he served as 2nd lieutenant with the Swedish peacekeeping forces in Bosnia-Hercegovina.