Dr Patrick Meehan works in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS University of London. He is currently working on a five-year research programme, entitled ‘Drugs and (Dis)order: Building sustainable peacetime economies in the aftermath of war’. This programme explores illicit drug economies and their effects on armed conflict, war to peace transitions, public health and livelihoods in Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar. His research over the past decade has focused on the political economy of violence, conflict and development, with a specific focus on Myanmar and its borderlands with China and Thailand.
He has also conducted research for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the UK Government Stabilisation Unit, the World Bank, Conciliation Resources, and Christian Aid.
He is about to start a new research project on rare earth mining in northern Myanmar that explores the intersections between armed conflict, resource politics and climate change.