About Us
Crisis Lens helps you make the best use of data to understand global crises, by supporting data innovation, research and analysis, and providing strategic advice to organizations in the conflict data and analysis ecosystem.
Our Story
Critical efforts to build datasets that capture conflict dynamics, patterns of unrest, threats and hostility, and more will not alone ensure that crisis contexts are understood.
Such efforts must also be paired with:
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Effective systems, structures, and methodologies to translate information into useful data;
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Initiatives to bolster data literacy for the effective integration of data into workflows;
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Specialized skills, and dedicated capacity, for effective data analysis; and
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Deep knowledge and understanding of how analysis fits into the wider crisis data and analysis ecosystem.
Only then will humanitarians, policy makers, and other stakeholders be able to capitalize on available data and information to make actionable decisions within crisis contexts.
Crisis Lens was born to help address these needs.
Dr. Roudabeh Kishi is a leader in the conflict data field, with expertise in data methodologies and measuring the risk of political violence. She has nearly two decades of experience in crisis research, including nearly a decade of experience in senior leadership positions at organizations focusing on conflict data and analysis. Her work appears in outlets ranging from scholarly journals and academic books, to policy briefs and white papers, to op-eds and mainstream blogs, and has been cited widely, including by media outlets around the world.
Dr. Kishi currently holds research affiliations, focused on tracking and mitigating political violence and improving early warning models, at Princeton University and the University of Denver. Her research on these topics is supported by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation as a Distinguished Scholar, and previously by the US Institute of Peace as a Peace Scholar.
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Previously, she was the Director of Research & Innovation at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Database (ACLED). Among the work she directed while there includes: leading their global expansion of disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping, including establishing and staffing regional desks, and tailoring methodologies to distinct crisis contexts; spearheading ACLED’s first early warning products, including conflict forecasting tools; and leading the establishment of their gender portfolio, helping to introduce a gendered dimension to analysis. Roudabeh has also led data literacy initiatives across the ecosystem, ranging from trainings, both remotely and in person around the world, supporting: the capacity-building of local partners around data collection, management, and analysis; to best practices around conflict risk and emergency response for international multilateral institutions, humanitarian organizations, and INGOs.
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Dr. Kishi is a member of the Board of Trustees for Videre Est Credere, which focuses on supporting local communities around the world to document human rights violations, to demand accountability and secure justice. Over the past 15+ years, she has regularly consulted on research at INGOs, development firms, university research centers, and more.
