Dr Yaniv Voller

DrYaniv Voller is a Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Kent. Before joining the University of Kent, he was a Fellow at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. He was awarded his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Yaniv’s research focuses on civil wars, insurgency and counter-insurgency strategies, irregular forces in warfare, and the relations between armed forces and society. He is the author of two books, Second-Generation Liberation Wars: Rethinking Colonialism in Iraqi Kurdistan and Southern Sudan (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and The Kurdish Liberation Movement in Iraq: From Insurgency to Statehood (Routledge, 2014).

He has published his research in journals such as International Affairs, Democratization, Terrorism and Political Violence, the Middle East Journal and the International Journal of Middle East Studies. He has also written for broader audiences for platforms such as War on the Rocks, Haaretz, and Al Majalla. He has provided commentary on different aspects of Middle Eastern affairs to the BBC, The New York Times, The Sunday Times, Al Jazeera, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, TRT, and other news publications.

Between 2023 and 2025, Yaniv was the recipient of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award. His work has also been sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, DFID, and the Social Science Research Council.