Caitriona Dowd is the senior research and data manager for the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED). Ms. Dowd is the author of the ACLED monthly Trend Reports. She studied development and politics at the London School of Economics, after which she worked at ACTED in Nairobi before returning to run the ACLED data team. Ms. Dowd is particularly interested in East Africa, militia activity, and communal conflict. She begins her PhD in the Autumn of 2012.