Jason Lyall is the inaugural James Wright Chair of Transnational Studies and Associate Professor in the Government department at Dartmouth College. He also directs the Political Violence Field Lab at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. His research examines the effects and effectiveness of political violence in civil and conventional wars. He is currently writing a book on how to improve humanitarian assistance in fragile and conflict settings like Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. A second project investigates the relationship between inequality, racism, and intergroup relations in violent settings, including within police forces, armies, and rebel organizations.

His book, Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War (Princeton University Press, 2020), was recently named a "Best of 2020" book by Foreign Affairs. His research has been published in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Politics, and World Politics, among others. He has received funding from AidData/USAID, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the MacArthur Foundation, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, and the United States Institute of Peace. He has conducted fieldwork in Russia and Afghanistan, where he served as the Technical Adviser for USAID’s Measuring the Impact of Stabilization Initiatives (MISTI) project during 2012-15. He was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow in 2020.