Elliot short
Historian
Research Consultant
Writer
About me
Academic and Private Clients
My name’s Elliot, and I’m a historian, research consultant, writer, and aspiring video content creator. I have experience working in an academic capacity as well as a growing portfolio of work commissioned by private clients.
My core area of expertise is the collapse of Yugoslavia and the construction of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the aftermath of the war. I have published a peer-reviewed article on the subject in the Journal of Slavic Military Studies and am currently preparing a manuscript for Bloomsbury Academic entitled Building a Multiethnic Military in Post-Yugoslav Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have also presented my work on the subject to academic, military, and professional audiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, the USA, and the UK.
By employing an inter-disciplinary approach throughout my research, my expertise overlaps a range of fields. These include international intervention and the management of post-conflict transitions; peace support operations and security sector reform; as well as the history of the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe more generally. My insights are further informed by the years I spent conducting fieldwork across former Yugoslavia.
My years in academia provided me with the knowledge and tools I need to conduct in-depth research on a broad range of subjects and present my findings in a concise and timely manner. Since completing my PhD dissertation, I have worked as a research consultant on many projects, including one in which I co-authored the book Peace and Conflict Since 1991: War, Intervention, and Peacebuilding Organizations (Peter Lang, 2020) with Milt Lauenstein. Our book includes chapters on war, preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping, peace agreements, statebuilding, and peacebuilding organisations. More recently, I have been developing a project to assess the effectiveness of international statebuilding initiatives in preventing armed conflict and providing stability. My work in this area has led me to explore the post-conflict transitions of Burundi, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nepal.
Outside of work, my main passion is travelling. I have cumulatively spent over two years backpacking around various corners of the globe – including almost every country in Europe, parts of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as India, Nepal, and South East Asia. Thus, I am no stranger to adventure and would readily consider projects anywhere in the world.
A Broad Range of Subjects
Formal Qualifications
• PhD in Modern History. University of East Anglia, 2015 – 2019. [Fully funded by a Faculty of Arts and Humanities Scholarship]
• MA with Distinction in Modern European History. University of East Anglia, 2013 – 2014. [Tuition funded by the Leipzig Scholarship in Modern European History]
• BA with First Class Honours in History and Politics. University of East Anglia, 2009 – 2012.
• Level B1 in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (language). Centro de Estudios Hispánicos – Sarajevo, 2015 – 2016, Lingvisti – Sarajevo, 2017.
• Graduate Diploma in Managing Post-Conflict Transitions. International Peace and Security Institute, Sarajevo, 2017.
• Graduate Diploma in Political Science and Middle East Studies. Galilee International Management Institute, Misrata, 2011.
Links to all of my work can be found in the Portfolio and Publications page of this website.