Myriel Julie Mathez

Doctoral Researcher

Myriel is a Doctoral Researcher at PRIF in the Research Group Peace­keeping and Conflict Management through the United Nations at Research Department International Institutions. Her work aims at integrating academic and practical insights, with her research interests centering around disasters in conflict settings, UN inter­ventions, and (UN) humanitarian, peace, and develop­ment work. She is also a member of the Research Group Ecology, Climate, and Conflict. 

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mathez(at)prif.org
 Press photo

CV

| since September 2025
Doctoral Researcher at PRIF

| 01/2025–09/2025
Carlo-Schmid-Fellow and Consultant at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Resilience Team, Geneva, Switzerland 

| 2021–2024
Master of Arts in International Organisations and Crisis Management at the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany

| 2022–2023
Semester abroad at Haifa University, Israel and internship at EcoPeace Middle East, Ramallah, Palestine

| 2021–2024
Project Coordinator at Bildungswerk Sachsen der Deutschen Gesellschaft e.V., Leipzig, Germany

| 2019–2021
Bachelor of Arts in Human Rights, University of Malmö, Sweden

| 2020
Semester abroad at the University of Bern, Switzerland

| 2019
Cultural Fellowship in Baku, Azerbaijan

| 2016–2018
Legal Studies at Leipzig University, Germany

PhD Project

2025 was the year with the most conflicts since World War II. That same year, 358 (natural) disasters were recorded. The geo­graphical overlap of wars and disasters has devastating consequences, especially for the populations in the affected areas, who are particularly dependent on aid and support.

Worldwide, more than 204 million people live in areas controlled by or contested by rebel groups. To support their constituencies and strengthen their legitimacy, rebel groups may participate in disaster governance, including through collaboration with inter­national organizations (IOs). The latter in turn often depend on the rebel groups' collaboration to gain access to affected populations and safely deliver aid in areas outside govern­ment control. The ensuing inter­actions are the subject of this dissertation. 

Although inter­actions between rebels and international organizations – such as negotiations over access or coordination on security – occur frequently in practice, they have remained largely unexplored to date. Little is known about the conditions under which IOs and rebel groups engage, the forms this engagement takes, and its effects on disaster governance, conflict dynamics, or the involved parties.

This study addresses this gap by examining IO-rebel inter­actions in disaster governance. It contributes to debates on rebel governance, international organizations’ field-level practices, and the feasibility of disaster risk governance in conflict-affected settings – an increasingly urgent issue in light of rising conflict and the growing intensity of extreme weather events.

Publications

  • Institutionelle Friedenssicherung: Reform oder Abstieg. Die Vereinten Nationen am Scheideweg
    | 2026
    Bethke, Felix; Hach, Sascha; Kroll, Stefan; Leonhard, Lucas Kori; Mathez, Myriel; Schissler, Frederik; Speyer, Johanna; Yuan, Xinju (2026): Institutionelle Friedenssicherung: Reform oder Abstieg. Die Vereinten Nationen am Scheideweg, in: Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)/Leibniz-Institut Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (PRIF)/Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik an der Universität Hamburg (IFSH)/Institut für Entwicklung und Frieden (INEF) (eds), Friedensgutachten 2026, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 115–129.
    Publication

  • A Fair World Begins with a Fair Map: The UN Adopts Equal Earth Projection
    | 2026
    Mathez, Myriel J; McKee, Sarah; Birchinger, Sophia; Schissler, Frederik (2026): A Fair World Begins with a Fair Map: The UN Adopts Equal Earth Projection, PRIF Blog, Frankfurt/M..
    Publication

  • Reform or Decline: The United Nations at a Crossroads
    | 2026
    Yuan, Xinyu; Hach, Sascha; Leonhard, Lucas Kori; Mathez, Myriel Julie; Schissler, Frederik; Speyer, Johanna; Bethke, Felix; Kroll, Stefan (2026): Reform or Decline: The United Nations at a Crossroads, PRIF Working Paper, 73, Frankfurt/M.

Further Activities

| since 2025
Spokesperson for the Junge AFK (“Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung” – Working Group for Peace and Conflict Research)

| 2024–2026
Voluntary Researcher at the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK) on the Hamas et al.

  • “In the shadow of Security Council paralysis: UN agency in conflict management” 09.09.2026, ECPR General Conference. Together with Xinyu Yuan and Frederik Schissler
  • “Everybody knows the Charta is aspirational' The United Staff for Gaza initiative.” 02.07.2026, EWIS 2026, Izmir (Türkiye). Together with Frederik Schissler
  • "Die Vereinten Nationen im Globalen System", 21.01.2026, IU Frankfurt.

  • Consultation Office Ralf Stegner, MdB: “(UN)wichtig? Die Zukunft der Vereinten Nationen in globalen Krisen und Großmachtpolitik” with Frederik Schissler