About Alex Bruens

Alex is political scientist studying international organizations, repression, and political violence. They are trained in international relations and quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and have expertise in conflict management for civil war affected states, human rights, and international organization.

Currently, Alex is an Assistant Research Professor at the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

They earned their Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2024, examining United Nations (UN) interventions in civil war-affected states. They have several in-progress projects and papers, and their work is published in Advances.in/psychology and International Interactions.

For over three years, Alex was a Research Manager on a National Science Foundation-funded project with PIs Dr. Susanna Campbell and Dr. Jessica Maves Braithwaite titled Networks of Influence and Support in Peace Operations. The project is based in the Research on International Policy Implementation Lab (RIPIL) at American University. For more background, see “Reflections on Creating New International Aid Network Datasets”.

In defining their policy-focused research agenda, Alex attended Bridging the Gap’s New Era Workshop in 2022 and International Policy Summer Institute in 2026.

Alex has presented research at conferences including the International Studies Association, Peace Science Society (International), Political Economy of International Organization, American Political Science Association, and Behavioural and Social Sciences in Security (BASS).