Publications

A comparative study of higher education across five conflict-affected contexts — Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, it challenges externally driven recovery models and foregrounds local agency and institutional resilience. The first comprehensive study to centre higher education in Arab post-conflict recovery.

This book traces Qatar's emergence as a global conflict mediator, from its early interventions in Lebanon and Darfur to landmark roles in the U.S.–Taliban deal and Gaza war negotiations. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, it examines the strategies, motivations, and implications of Qatar's peacemaking rise.

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The first global study of higher education in conflict-affected societies — examining how war damages universities and how rebuilding them can drive wider recovery and peacebuilding.

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Sansom Milton & Ghassan Elkahlout. 2025. Qatar's multifaceted humanitarian role in Afghanistan since August 2021. Development Policy Review. Link.

Sansom Milton, Ghassan Elkahlout & Sana Tariq. 2025. Qatar’s Evolving Role in Conflict Mediation. Mediterranean Politics. Link.

Ghassan Elkahlout & Sansom Milton. 2024. The evolution of the Gulf states as humanitarian donors. Third World Quarterly. Link.

Sultan Barakat & Sansom Milton. 2020. Qatar: Conflict Mediation and Regional Objectives. Chapter in The New Politics of Aid: Emerging Donors & Conflict-Affected States. Edited by Agnieszka Paczyńska, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Link.

Ghassan Elkahlout, Sansom Milton, Arne Strand, and Iffat Idris. 2026. Madrassas and girls’ education: exploring localised educational solutions in post-2021 Afghanistan. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. Link.

Sansom Milton & Haythem Dellai. 2025. Strengthening Domestic Resource Mobilisation in Post-conflict Contexts: Integrating Public and Private Finance Sources. Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. Link.

Sansom Milton, Manoug Antaby, Haythem Dellai & Ahmad Idrees. 2025. Counting the costs of war: A holistic, multi-level assessment of the impact of conflict on Sudan. African Security Review. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2024. Rethinking the “Day After” in the Gaza Strip: Learning from Previous Rounds of Reconstruction. Chapter in Gaza’s Cycle of Destruction and Rebuilding: Understanding the Actors, Dynamics and Responses. Edited by Ghassan Elkahlout, Palgrave Macmillan. Link.

Sansom Milton, Ghassan Elkahlout & Saba Attallah. 2024. Shrinking reconstruction space in the Gaza Strip: rebuilding after the 2021 and 2022 wars. Conflict, Security and Development. Link.

Sansom Milton & Mohammad Alhamawi. 2024. Peace-centred Sustainable Development: An Analysis of SDG 16 in the Arab States. World Development Perspectives. Link.

Sultan Barakat & Sansom Milton. 2020. Localisation Across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus. Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. Link.

Sultan Barakat, Sansom Milton & Ghassan Elkahlout. 2020. Reconstruction under Siege: the Gaza Strip since 2007. Disasters. Link.

Sultan Barakat, Sansom Milton & Ghassan Elkahlout. 2018. The Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism: Old Wine in New Bottlenecks. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. Link.

Irene Costantini & Sansom Milton. 2021. Doing Research in Conflict and Post-conflict Contexts. Chapter in Research Methods for Middle East Studies: Conceptual, Theoretical, and Practical Issues. Edited by Lorraine Charles, et al. Edinburgh University Press. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2026. Academic freedom after genocide: The politics of rebuilding higher education in Gaza. International Journal of Educational Research.  Volume 138. Link.

Sansom Milton. et al. 2023. Protecting higher education from attack in the Gaza Strip. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2022. Higher education, post-conflict democratization and the legacies of authoritarian rule: The Tripoli University Programme for Rebuilding Libya. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2021. Higher education and sustainable development goal 16 in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Higher Education. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2021. Universities in Post-2003 Iraq: Coalition and Iraqi Responses to Violence and Insecurity. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2019. Syrian higher education during conflict: Survival, protection, and regime security. Journal of International Educational Development. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2017. Higher education, conflict causation, and post-conflict peacebuilding. Chapter in Universities and Conflict: The Role of Higher Education in Peacebuilding and Resistance. Edited by Juliet Millican. Routledge. 

Sansom Milton & Sultan Barakat. 2016. Higher education as the catalyst of recovery in conflict-affected societies. Globalisation, Societies and Education. Link.

Ghassan Elkahlout, Sansom Milton & Ruba Hawa. 2025. Mud brick houses as a suitable alternative to emergency shelters for internally displaced persons (IDPs): evidence from Northern Syria. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment. Link.

Ghassan Elkahlout, Sansom Milton, Taha Yaseen & Elham al-Raweh. 2022. Localisation of humanitarian action in War-torn Countries: The experience of local NGOs in Yemen. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Link.

Smearing the Mediator: Why Attacks on Qatar delay Gaza's Recovery. CHS Insights, 12 January. Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. Link.

Why the world is failing at making peace. Doha News,  5 December 2025. Link.

How Qatar Became a Conflict Mediation Heavyweight. World Politics Review,  6 November 2025. Link.

After Israel's strike, will Qatar continue Gaza mediation?. Middle East Eye, 13 September 2025. Link.

Trump Gaza Plan: The juries are out but here’s an expert verdict. The New Arab, 2 October 2025. Link.

Syrians cannot afford another decade of violence and despair. Middle East Eye, 6 December 2024. Link.

Netanyahu's 'new Middle East' has arrived - but it's not what he envisioned. Middle East Eye, 7 October 2024. Link.

The key issues that will define Middle East politics in 2024. Middle East Eye, 25 December 2023. Link.

Redefining reconstruction: a new path for Gaza post-2023. Humanitarian Practice Network. 21 November 2023. Link.

Libya floods highlight need for national unity. Middle East Eye, 13 September 2023. Link.

Localisation of Yemen's Humanitarian Response. Humanitarian Practice Network, 15 June 2023. Link.

Nakba at 75: No more excuses for western inaction on Israeli brutality. Middle East Eye, 18 May 2023. Link.

Why Turkey's earthquake is a grim wake-up call for the Middle East. Middle East Eye, 21 February 2023. Link.

Why the international response to Syria's tragedy is a disgrace and what to do about it. The New Arab, 17 February 2023. Link.

Saudi Arabia-Yemen: The truce holds, but will it lead to a peace agreement? Middle East Eye, 22 September 2022. Link.

Israel-Palestine: There are no more excuses for Palestinian divisions. Middle East Eye, 12 August 2022. Link.

Ghassan Elkahlout & Sansom Milton. Unblocking the Pathway to Transition in Sudan. CHS Policy Briefing. Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. 28 December 2022. Link.

Sansom Milton & Abdulrauf Elgeroshi. Libya's Conflict Stalemate: Towards a multitrack approach to stability and peace. CHS Policy Briefing. Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. 13 October 2022. Link.

Sultan Barakat, Sansom Milton & Ghassan Elkahlout. Rebuilding Gaza: the Need for a Radical Shift in Reconstruction Strategy. CHS Policy Briefing. Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, 7 July 2021. Link.

Sultan Barakat & Sansom Milton. Houses of wisdom matter: The responsibility to protect and rebuild higher education in the Arab World. Policy Briefing. Brookings Doha Center. 9 July 2015. Link.

Sansom Milton. 2022. Higher education for peace, justice, and citizenship: A global, comparative study of university programmes and formal transitional justice mechanisms. Centro Nacional Chega!I.P,  giz, and German Cooperation. 

Sultan Barakat & Sansom Milton. 2011. Qatar’s Role in Conflict and Peace: An Assessment of Motivations and Impact. Report, University of York and Saferworld. Link.