Jakana Thomas  is Associate Professor in the School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California San Diego and a Research Advisor for the RESOLVE Network housed at the United States Institutes of Peace. She is an expert on the gender dimensions of political violence, with an emphasis on women’s participation in violent political organizations. Her work seeks to better understand why violent group, including  rebel, terrorist and community-based armed groups recruit women, why women are drawn to violent politics, the unique contributions women make to conflict processes, and the societal consequences of women’s inclusion in and exclusion from politics. Her research has been published across the top Political Science and International Relations journals and has received attention from policymakers and new media. She is associate editor of the H-DIPLO International Security Studies Forum and serves on the editorial boards of a number of political science journals.