About

The Law and Conflict (LAC) research lab seeks to advance new knowledge about the interconnections between law and intra/interstate conflict. LAC brings together scholars examining law in armed conflict settings, peace processes, and state-building.

A primary aim of the research lab is to encourage rigorous theory-driven data collection and analysis that informs our understanding of the relationship between law and conflict, law and peace, and law and governance. We seek to understand the causes and consequences of group-level laws, including their interaction with state/international laws, and the use of various legal mechanisms to manage and resolve conflict.

Purdue undergraduate and graduate or prospective graduate students interested in joining LAC should contact Dr. Reyes directly. LAC provides opportunities for students to engage in new or ongoing research projects. Students may participate in different aspects of each project, including but not limited to data collection and analysis. A core goal of LAC is to train students on various forms of data collection, maintaining intercoder reliability, and quantitative or qualitative analysis of collected data. Additional opportunities include determining the legal and policy implications of some phenomena.

LAC also seeks to support research transparency and the sharing of knowledge between data scientists, legal scholars, legal and peace practitioners, and policymakers.