Dr Alexandra Lewis is author of Security, Clans and Tribes: Unstable Governance in Somaliland, Yemen and the Gulf of Aden (2014). She works as a researcher of peace, conflict and education, and, though she specialises in the governance of these issues in the Middle East and North Africa, she has carried out field work in a variety of complex contexts worldwide, including; Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Russia, Somalia/Somaliland and Yemen. 

Dr Lewis was awarded her PhD at the University of York from the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) in 2012, where she worked under the supervision of Professor Sultan Barakat. For many years, her work has focused on youth violence, education, and the gendered dynamics of crime in fragile, war-affected states. She addresses these issues mainly from a security and governance perspective. She is currently engaged in several different research collaborations on post-conflict education, and leads a research project on civic education in Somaliland funded by the London International Development Centre. She is also an Associate of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Hargeisa).

Dr Lewis has carried out commissioned research for a range of media, academic, non-governmental and governmental organisations. Among the United Nations and associated agencies, she has worked with: the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, the International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations Development Project, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, and others. She has also contributed research to the Department for International Development and the World Bank.