Does violence in civil wars affect women’s empowerment and gender relations? This question is at the heart of WarEffects, a research project (2022-2027) funded by the European Research Council and led by Carlo Koos, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Government at the University of Bergen.

In this project, we will explore if, how, and under what conditions violence in civil wars affects women's empowerment in particular and gender relations more broadly at the subnational and individual level. Empirically, we will combine survey experiments, archival data, GIS, and qualitative field research in Colombia, DR Congo, and Sri Lanka. Our goal is to significantly advance knowledge at the intersection of peace and conflict research, gender studies, and development economics.