Thorsten Bonacker is Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies. His research focuses on political violence, in particular armed conflicts within and between states, as well as peace processes after the end of civil wars. After graduating from high school in Bremen, Thorsten Bonacker (*1970) studied sociology, psychology, philosophy and cultural studies at the Philipps University of Marburg from 1990 to 1996. He then worked as a research assistant to Prof. Dr. Stefan Müller-Doohman at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg until 1999, where he received his doctorate (summa cum laude) in 1999. In the same year he moved to the Institute of Sociology at the Philipps University of Marburg as a research assistant and in the winter semester of 2002/03 he filled a professorship in sociology in Oldenburg. In 2004, he was appointed to a junior professorship for peace and conflict research at the Philipps-Universität Marburg and four years later accepted a professorship for peace and conflict research at the Philipps-Universität Marburg. In recent years, Thorsten Bonacker has held teaching positions at the universities of Oldenburg, Frankfurt am Main and Innsbruck. Since 2018, he has been a regular guest lecturer at the German-Kazakh University (DKU) in Almaty. He is also a member of the Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials at Philipps University, he is a member of the academic advisory board of the Centre for Peace History at the University of Sheffield and has been a member of the "Peace and Conflict Research Working Group" at the Federal Foreign Office since 2014.