On 26 January 2017, a delegation of three scholars from the University of Essex, Great Britain, visited the JALLC with the intent to increase JALLC staff awareness of cutting edge research on topics of NATO relevance and of current developments in research methods of relevance to the JALLC’s joint analysis activities. Prof. Kristian Gleditsch, one of the leading political science scholars on civil war, research director at the Essex Department of Government, and an associate with the Peace Research Institute Oslo/ Centre for the Study of Civil War led the visit together with Dr Tobias Böhmelt and Dr Daina Chiba, respectively reader and lecturer at Essex University, who have both published extensively in leading political science journals on conflict between and within states.

After having been briefed by Brigadier General Mário Barreto on the work done at the JALLC, the three scholars introduced and discussed their on-going research on civil war and its regional dimensions, the reliability of military alliance treaties, and the relationship between migration and terrorism to an audience of military and civilian JALLC analysts. The three Essex scholars continued their informative presentations by introducing recent advances in social network analysis and other analysis methods in the social sciences to the JALLC’s research and operational research analysts. The visit concluded with Professor Gleditsch signing the JALLC’s book of honour.