HFG welcomes its 2025 HFG Emerging Scholars. The twelve scholars are completing dissertations on a range of important topics, including ideologically motivated violent extremism in digital spaces, organized crime in Colombia’s informal land markets, and racial disparities in fatal police encounters in the United States.

“Their dissertation projects were chosen for both their intellectual merit and their potential to shed light on a serious problem of violence,” said HFG Director of Research Joel Wallman.

In the latest installment of The Polarization Project, HFG Distinguished Fellow of Practice Greg Berman interviews Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland and the founder of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). The two discussed trends in political violence, extremism, and polarization in the United States since 9/11.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation announces the selection of its 2025–2026 HFG African Fellows. The awardees, selected through a rigorous peer-review competition, are exploring important problems of violence in the world.

“This year’s cohort of African Fellows represents a diverse and dynamic set of researchers,” said HFG Senior Program Officer Nyeleti Honwana. “The fellows’ projects ask important questions about the modern African state, current understandings of gendered violence, and the role of the arts in ameliorating conflict.”

Read the full announcement here.

In Tunisia, a single leader of an elite security force deployed to protect the Interior Ministry was far more influential than long-standing resentments and conflicting interests within the ranks. HFG grantee Jean-Baptiste Gallopin explains how and why militaries defect based on his research.

Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge has appointed Sophia Goodfriend as its next Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Fellow. Goodfriend is researching the impact of big data and machine learning on military conflict in the Middle East. Her fellowship begins in October.

A new report from Salzburg Global’s Polarization and Violent Threats to Democratic Systems program identifies ways to mitigate the threat of political violence and address the dangers that polarization and political violence pose to democratic systems.

Read or download the report here.