Timeline 2015-2021

2015

GLD moved to the University of Gothenburg.
GLD hired postdoctoral research fellows Kristen Kao and Adam Harris and PhD student Felix Hartmann.
The first GLD Gothenburg working paper by Ariel I. Ahram, “War-Making, State-Making, and Non-State Power in Iraq” was published.
2015 LGPI Tunisia: Data was collected in Tunisia between February and March 2015, funded by the Moulay Hicham Foundation and Yale University. GLD researchers began analysis and dissemination of findings after GLD moved to Gothenburg in June.
GLD began preparations for the 2016 LGPI survey.

GLD hired postdoctoral research fellow Ruth Carlitz.
2016 LGPI Malawi: GLD and its partners from IPOR Malawi, University of Bergen, and Christian Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway implemented the LGPI survey in Malawi. We collected over 8,100 household surveys and 270 elite surveys during the period March to April 2016.

GLD disseminated results from the LGPI in Tunisia (2015) and Malawi (2016), including reports, working papers, presentations, workshops, and the public release of the truncated Malawi 2016 LGPI data set.
GLD held its first Annual Conference, “Seeking Solutions,” in Hindås, Sweden.
GLD, QoG, V-Dem, and UCDP organized the first joint Policy Dialogue Day – “From Knowledge to Action: Current Insights on Democracy, Governance, and Armed Conflict.”
GLD awards its first six Short-Term Grants.
GLD hired PhD students Prisca Jöst and Ezgi Irgil.
GLD launched two new research projects:
- Social Institutions and Governance: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa (Swedish Research Council).
- Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia (FORMAS).

GLD hired postdoctoral research fellow Josephine Gakii Gatua and PhD student Elise Tengs.
GLD held its Annual Conference, “Layered Authority,” in Gothenburg, Sweden.
GLD-QoG-V-Dem-UCDP Joint Policy Dialogue Day – “New Research=Better Policies: Insights on Democracy, Governance, and Armed Conflict.”
GLD and IPOR found the Edward Chiwayula Scholarship, supporting students at the University of Malawi.
GLD launched two new research projects:
- Refugee Migration and Cities: Social Institutions, Political Governance and Integration in Jordan, Turkey, and Sweden (SIPGI) (Swedish Research Council).
- SAFEResearch: Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and Swedish Research Council).

GLD held its Annual Conference, “Routes to Accountability,” in Varberg, Sweden.
GLD-QoG-V-Dem-UCDP Joint Policy Dialogue Day – “New Challenges to Democracy, Governance and Peace.”
GLD launched its podcast series, Governance Uncovered.
The LGPI was utilized in large national surveys in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia.
GLD and its partners surveyed over 24.000 individuals during the period May to November. The data was collected as part of two research projects, Social Institutions and Governance: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa and Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia.
GLD launched four new research projects:
- Governance and Local Development in the MENA (Hicham Alaoui Foundation).
- Local Governance under Decentralization: Oman and in the Arab Region (Carnegie Corporation of New York).
- From Revenge to Forgiveness: Strengthening Durable Peace in Post-Conflict Societies (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; Folke Bernadotte Academy).
- Public Goods Provision in the Shadow of Urbanization:
  Learning from Experiences in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia (Swedish Research Council).

GLD launched the GLD SSRN eJournal.
Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences: A Guide to Human and Digital Security in Hostile Environments was published by Sage Publications.
GLD and its partners collected over 6,800 telephone surveys in Malawi and Zambia for the project Developing a Locally Rooted Approach to Covid-19 Response between May and August 2020.
GLD disseminated results in the Fall through reports, working papers, webinars, and the public release of four new data sets.
GLD, in collaboration with TIFA Research, fielded a limited battery of questions adapted from the Malawi and Zambia Covid-19 surveys as part of a larger survey run by TIFA Research. Director Lust then participated in a webinar with TIFA to discuss and disseminate results at local and policy-levels.
Creation of GLD Data.
GLD launched three new research projects:
- Developing a Locally Rooted Approach to Covid-19 Response in Malawi and Zambia (GLD Program Recruitment Grant – Swedish Research Council; FORMAS).
- To Punish or Pardon? Attitudes Towards Justice and Reintegration for Europeans Who Cooperated with the Islamic State (Lundgrens Vetenskapsfond).
- Gender and Politics in the MENA: A Decade after the Arab Uprisings (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

GLD had its first fully digital Annual Conference via Zoom: GPS - Governance, People, and Space.
31 different digital events were held.
A three-day conference on Gender and Politics in the MENA region was arranged.
GLD’s Work-in-Progress Workshop premiered.
We started producing and publishing policy briefs to summarize our research to a non-academic audience.
Another new initiative in 2021 was the Policy Roundtable sessions, in which panelists from organizations worldwide join to discuss current political events.
Our three-year-long Covid-19 project reached the finish line and was summarized in a report that you can find here.
The project “Zambian Election Panel Survey” was carried out.
GLD received a research grant from The Carnegie Corporation of New York to support the project Governance and Local Development in the Middle East and North Africa.
GLD received a research grant from Vetenskaptsrådet (Swedish Research Council) for the project Survive, Thrive, or Deprive? Drivers and Outcomes of Resilience During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Malawi