Professional Affiliation

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University 

Expert Bio

Dani Gilbert is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Her research explores the causes and consequences of hostage taking in international security including projects on rebel kidnapping, hostage recovery policy, and hostage diplomacy. Her current book project examines why and how armed groups kidnap during civil war. It is based on her PhD dissertation, which received the American Political Science Association’s 2021 Merze Tate Award for the Best Dissertation in International Relations, Law, and Politics. Gilbert’s scholarship has been published in the American Political Science Review, International Studies Perspectives, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Terrorism & Political Violence, the Texas National Security Review, and the Journal of Political Science Education.

In 2023, Professor Gilbert was selected to serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. Gilbert frequently writes public commentary in outlets like Foreign Affairs, the Washington Post, USA Today, War on the Rocks, and Lawfare and has been interviewed by outlets including ABC, the BBC, CNN, ESPN, NBC, NPR, and The New York Times. She has advised the British, Canadian, and U.S. governments on hostage recovery policy and spoken about her research at the Aspen Ideas Festival.