Siobhan O'Neil Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

Geneva, Switzerland

The MEAC initiative is a multi-year collaboration to develop a unified, rigorous approach to examining how and why individuals exit armed conflict and evaluating the efficacy of interventions meant to help support their transition to civilian life. MEAC has historically been supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, SIDA, and has been run in partnership with DPO, UNICEF, IOM, UNDP, FBA, and the World Bank. Originally launched at UNU-CPR, MEAC transitioned to its permanent institutional home at UNIDIR in January 2023. MEAC runs multi-method studies in the Lake Chad Basin, Iraq, and Colombia, using its toolkit, to develop a novel evidence base on trajectories into and out of armed groups.

The MEAC initiative is a multi-year collaboration to develop a unified, rigorous approach to examining how and why individuals exit armed conflict and evaluating the efficacy of interventions meant to help support their transition to civilian life. In Phase I of the project, the MEAC team collaborated with practitioners and a wide range of experts to craft a unified assessment framework and a suite of accompanying assessment tools. In Phase II of the project, the framework and tools are being pilot tested in multi-year case studies in Nigeria and Colombia. MEAC is currently supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and is being run in partnership with DPO, UNICEF, IOM, UNDP, and the World Bank.

New York, Ny

Design, fundraise for, and manage a research initiative on child trajectories into and out of contemporary non-state armed groups that employ extreme violence (e.g. ISIS); plan and facilitate several international convenings and state of research workshops; manage two staff and three multi-person research teams; edit an analytical volume; and produce empirically-based programmatic guidance for UN child protection and DDR officers in the field.

New York, Ny

Coordinate a research team of experts on DDR, CVE, and offensive operations in peacekeeping. Review resulting think pieces and case studies, and contribute to, and coordinate, the final report. Organize and facilitate a 2015 DDR workshop that will include academics, member states, UN and multilateral partners, and NGOs. Help build a member state working group on DDR. Draft op-eds to highlight important questions surrounding the future of DDR and raise awareness about the upcoming workshop and research initiative. Raise funds for future DDR-related research projects. Lead the effort to develop concrete research proposals for the second phase of the project.

United Nations Headquarters

Provided program support for key mine action programs in Mali and Palestine. In this role, I provided strategic guidance to the UNMAS teams in the field; reviewed budgets and financial agreements; and drafted donor reports documenting the progress made on the ground. Conducted a review of the internal UNMAS financial agreement (FA) process, highlighted causes for reworks, and suggested possible solutions to streamline the FA process. Conducted original survey research to identify inefficiencies in UNOPA/UNMAS coordination on mine action programs and identified possible management solutions to the leaderships of the UNOPS Security Cluster and UNMAS Programmes.

Los Angeles

Designed and taught GE60 Seminar 5 – From Skyjackings to Sit-ins: Social Movements along the Continuum of Violence (S2011)Teaching Fellow: PS 118: Political Violence (S2011); GE60 America in the 1960s (F2010, W2011); GS100B Globalization: Contemporary Issues (S2010); GS100A Concepts and History of Globalization (W2010); GS1 Introduction to Global Studies (F2009); PS120B World Politics and US Foreign Policy After 9/11 (W2008)

Santa Monica, Ca

Conducted research in support of three RAND studies: Counterinsurgency Transition Project, Civil Military Relations during Chemical, Biological, Radiological, or Nuclear (CBRN) incidents Project, and the Iraqi Insurgent Motivations Project

Prepared analytical reports on domestic security and intelligence-related matters in response to congressional requests or in anticipation of emergent issues; conducted comparative analyses on proposed and existing legislation to assist Members of Congress and Congressional committees; and briefed Congressional committees, Members of Congress, and their staff.

Hamilton, Nj

Managed 20 staff members of the Current and Strategic Intelligence Programs in developing a full range of intelligence products and supporting ongoing intelligence cases; authored a strategic plan for the reorganization of state homeland security and intelligence resources under a single integrated operations center; created a comprehensive risk matrix to quantitatively measure terrorist-related threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences for the dispersal of homeland security grants; and assisted in the design and implementation of homeland security training exercises, including TOPOFF III.

Greater New York City Area

Prepared intelligence advisories and strategic threat analyses for government officials; provided threat briefings for the Governor and senior staff; helped prepare congressional testimony; liaised with regional police and government officials in the state, region, and Canada regarding threat reporting; taught courses on the international terrorism and suicide bombing to law enforcement agencies throughout the Northeast United States; and directed an initiative to create a terrorism analyst graduate program at the State University of New York-Albany.

Greater New York City Area

Assisted in fundraising, advocacy, and press events for The HALO Trust, an NGO dedicated to clearing landmines from former conflict zones.

St. Andrews, Scotland

Researched terrorist activity in the Middle East and North Africa (25 states) and documented violent activity in a searchable database; conducted analytic research on significant attacks and emerging terrorist trends in the region; and assisted in organizing to international terrorism conferences hosted by the Centre.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Political Science (International Relations)

Ma, National Security Policy Studies

Mlitt, International Relations And National Security Studies

Bachelor'S Degree, Political Science And History