Elisabeth Jean Wood is professor of Political Science and International and Area Studies at Yale University, and a member of the External Faculty of Santa Fe Institute. Her work focuses on political violence, particularly on sexual violence in the context of war, agrarian legacies of civil conflicts, collective action and social movements. She is the author of Forging Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador, of Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador, and co-editor with Morten Bergsmo and Alf B. Skre of Understanding and Proving International Sex Crimes. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Elisabeth is coordinator of the International Scientific Committee of the Observatory.