The Conflict Research Society congratulates Promise Frank Ejiofor, winner of the Cedric Smith Prize 2025. Promise is a PhD Candidate at the Centre of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. His research focuses on terrorism and political violence, with a special focus on ethnic politics, gender, race, and decoloniality.
Promise’s winning paper, “Gendercide and Terrorism Studies,” explores the occurrence and rationality of gendercide against civilian men and boys in the Lake Chad region. He argues that the concept of gendercide should be extended beyond the conventional focus on sexual violence, and contextualises gendercide against men and boys as part of the insurgent’s quest to create a caliphate with no resistance from local communities.
The jury notes that Promise’s paper addresses an important and under-explored research question, and that it makes a compelling case for expanding the concept of gender-based violence in terrorism studies beyond the dominant focus on sexual violence. The paper combines careful theoretical engagement with complex debates on hegemonic masculinity and victimhood, with rich empirical data from 21 in-depth interviews with survivors and ex-Boko Haram combatants in the Lake Chad region. In challenging the dominant perspective on masculinities and gendercide, Promise’s research pushes the field forward both theoretically and philosophically. Overall, the paper is an excellent contribution to peace and conflict research that combines a captivating narrative with theoretical sophistication and original empirical evidence. The paper also has significant implications for both academic and policy debates on civilian protection and gender-based violence.
The Cedric Smith Prize is awarded annually for the best article or thesis chapter in peace and conflict research by a PhD candidate. This year’s jury consisted of Imrana Buba (University of Oslo), Ida Rudolfsen (Peace Research Institute Oslo), and Julia Palmiano Federer (ETH Zürich).
The CRS received 34 excellent submissions for the prize from all over the world. Special mention goes to the following three authors who were shortlisted for the prize: Henrique Garbino, “Rebels against mines? Legitimacy and restraint on landmine use in the Philippines”; Nan Sandi, “Mining policy reform and civil conflict: Evidence from Myanmar; and Ezenwa E. Olumba, “The case for a ‘cognitive turn’ in conflict analysis: Lessons from Afghanistan and the Sahel”.