Matthew Pflaum is a postdoctoral fellow in the Reimagining Food Systems project at the Geography Department at the University of Bergen. He is involved in the SmallFishClim project studying small fish value chains in East Africa, especially related to climate change impacts and inputs and outputs during the value chain. He recently completed his PhD in geography at the University of Florida. 

In his dissertation, Matthew studied pastoralist insecurity in the Sahel as it relates to factors like borders, space, urbanization, and compared to other livelihood groups. He developed a model for empirically studying heterogeneities and vulnerabilities among civilians in violence against civilians, providing some of the first empirical evidence of heterogenous impacts of violence against civilians. 

Population geography, violence and civil wars, Africa, migration and mobility

2025                          Pflaum, Matthew. “International responses to the glocalized conflict in Mali. In A. Bah (Ed.), African States: Domestic and External Security Challenges. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

2023                          Radil, S.M., O. Walther, N. Doward, and M. Pflaum. “Urban-Rural Geographies of Political Violence in North and West Africa.” African Security, 16(2-3), 199-222. 

2021                          Plaum, M. Pastoralist Violence in North and West Africa. Paris, OECD Publishing.  

"Reimagining food systems for climate change adaptation, mitigation, and social justice" (SmallFishClim)