Academic Research
Mercy Fekadu (PhD), Associate Professor
Director, Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Director ARUA
Director, Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Director ARUA
Director, Institute for Peace and Security Studies
Mercy Fekadu Mulugeta (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor and Interim Director, Institute for Peace and Security Studies, AAU, and Secretariat Member of the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa (Nov 2011–On-Going). Her research interests include; Borderland Governance, Boundary and Territorial conflict, Security Governance, Statehood, Conflict, Small Arms and Light Weapons, Disarmament, Regionalisms, Women, Peace, and Security.
Research grants won:
Recent publications:
Lead Researcher
Tilahun Bejitual Zellelew is an Assistant Professor and Lead Researcher at AAU’s Institute for Peace and Security Studies. After beginning his academic career at Bahir Dar University, he earned Master’s degrees from the universities of Strasbourg, Bologna and AAU, followed by an interdisciplinary PhD in Cultural Studies/Historical and Cultural Anthropology across universities in Germany, Italy, and Brazil. With a Diploma in Migration Management from Maastricht University, his background merges global scholarly training with advisory and consultancy roles for various governmental and non-governmental institutions. He currently integrates his interdisciplinary academic expertise with peacebuilding and migration practice across the Horn of Africa. His publications and research interests focus, among others, on diversity management, inter-religious encounters, dialogue, peacebuilding, migration, memory studies, and social capital.
ARUA Fellow
Yared Debebe is a 2026 ARUA Early Career Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University. Since earning his Ph.D. in Peace and Security Studies in 2023 from IPSS, his academic work has centered on the Horn of Africa. His primary research interests include the political economy of war, armed conflict, nationalism, and regional peacebuilding mechanisms.
ARUA Fellow
Dr. Semir Yusuf has decades of experience in teaching and researching Political Science, International Relations, and Peace and Conflict Studies at several institutions including the University of Toronto and Addis Ababa University. He served in management and senior research positions at different African think tanks including the Institute for Security Studies and the Rift Valley Institute, where he was the Head of RVI’s Ethiopia Office. Semir has collaborated with various organizations, including the EU, USAID, NIMD and Berghof Foundation and has published extensively on topics such as conflict dynamics, constitutional design, identity politics and democratization. His regional expertise centers on the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and has received extensive training in peace and conflict studies in the US, India, and Ethiopia.
Lead Researcher, IPSS
Alemayehu Gurmu (PhD) is an Assistant Professor and works as a Lead Researcher at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, AAU. In addition to that, he teaches MA and PhD students at the African Studies Program under Center for Archaeology and History under the Social Sciences and Humanities of AAU. He earned his PhD in 2017 from IPSS, AAU. His Dissertation was on ‘The Social Stratification of Ethnicity: A Study of the Transformation of Local Group Relations and Conflict Mediation in Gurage Zone, Ethiopia’. Alemayehu’s primary interest is on Traditional Conflict Justice, Culture and Conflict.
Researcher, IPSS
Asebe Amenu Tufa (Ph.D.) is a researcher at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS), Addis Ababa University. He earned his Ph.D. in 2018 in Sociology from Addis Ababa University. His research interest includes urban studies, conflict and displacement, peace building, migration, environment, gender, governance, and public health. He can be reached at: [email protected] or [email protected]
ARUA Fellow
Dr. Brice Kamguia is a development economist with over five years of experience in environmental and energy economics, public economics, and applied policy analysis in developing countries. His research focuses on the intersections between energy systems, institutional quality, and economic development, with additional interests in political instability, international sanctions, and women’s political empowerment.
He is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University, where his work examines how access to justice conditions the effectiveness of energy aid in promoting sustainable industrialization in Africa. He also serves as a Lecturer in Public Economics at the University of Yaoundé II. Dr. Brice has previously worked with leading international institutions, including the World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Population and Health Research Center. His research has been published in internationally recognized journals such as Ecological Economics, Energy Policy, International Economics, and Economics of Transition and Institutional Change etc.
ARUA Fellow
Dr Thomas Chukwuma Ijere is a recipient of the ARUA-Carnegie-Mastercard Early Career Research Fellowship (2026). He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Political Communication from Northumbria University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on digital media and democracy in comparative perspectives. He is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calabar, Nigeria, and has held research and teaching positions at SOAS University of London, and the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Germany. Dr. Ijere is committed to interdisciplinary and comparative scholarship, collaborative research and advancing understanding of the evolving relationship between digital media and democratic practice.