Arif Sahar

Research Fellow

Email:

Room: E2.24

Profile

I am a political and social scientist with an interest in interdisciplinary research on political economy of conflict in the Global South, especially focussing on Afghanistan. I joined Warwick in 2025, where I lead on the GRECO project within the Interdisciplinary Ethics and Society Research Group.

Before joining Warwick, I was a researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research (CENTRIC), Sheffield Hallam University where I managed three large Horizon Europe projects that focussed on security and terrorism in the UK and EU. Currently, I am supervising (with Professor Saskia Bayerl) Erin Lawlor | CENTRIC, whose research focuses on the challenges and opportunities the health sector offers in relation to deradicalisation processes and practices in the UK and Australia.

I completed my PhD at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) on the political economy of conflict and its implications for education in Afghanistan, post 2001.

Publications:

I have published widely on Afghanistan, including over 15 journal articles and a book (with Professor Christian Kaunert, Routledge 2025) . Reconceptualizing Securitization in Afghanistan | Ethnicity, Social Id

Books:

My key publications are available through my ORCID

I have lived and worked in Afghanistan (2011-2015), where I held senior positions at national and international organisations. I welcome PhD applications in the areas of international security, terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation, higher/education, ethnic civil conflict, and political violence.