I am currently a researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, Germany working on the German Government-sponsored “Reducing Root Causes of Forced Displacement and Managing Migration” project. My research focuses on the role of technology and digitalization in migration and forced displacement. My work covers both developing country contexts, including work on technology in the lives of urban migrants in Bogota and Nairobi, as well as the role of digitalization in changing patterns of high-skill migration between industrialized countries.

I’ve recently worked with the International Security and Development Center, where I am an affiliated researcher, on an FAO-funded project on the political economy of food security and conflict, and was a Visiting Scholar at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution during the 2016-17 academic year. During my PhD I was a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow, advising the Samoan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on disaster response and crisis prevention policy.

Outside academia I have consulted for the World Bank, and worked with TechChange Inc and the U.S. Institute of Peace on peacebuilding, training and technology programs.

I earned my PhD at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in August 2016, and hold a MA and BA from American University.

You can follow me on Twitter here: @cmartinshields

Here’s my nascent GitHub page: https://github.com/cmartinshields

Last but not least, my SSRN page: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2705197