Kieran Mitton

Kieran Mitton is a Reader in Conflict, Security and Development in the Department of War Studies, King's College London, and founder of the Urban Violence Research Network. His research explores youth marginality and violence in contexts of both war and peace, with a strong emphasis on sustained research that engages directly with perpetrators and communities.

Kieran has conducted extensive fieldwork in Sierra Leone on atrocities and gang violence. As part of a multi-country comparative project exploring urban violence, he has interviewed gang members and communities in Complexo da Mare (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Manenberg and Hanover Park (Cape Town,South Africa). He is the author of various articles on violence, post-conflict reconstruction and gangs, and is the author of 'Rebels in a Rotten State: Understanding Atrocity in the Sierra Leone Civil War' (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2015). He currently leads a British Academy funded project exploring youth marginality and street-gangs in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and South Africa.