Joseph Hewitt

Joseph Hewitt is the vice president for Policy, Learning and Strategy at the United States Institute of Peace. He leads USIP's efforts to capture learning from the Institute's program activities and apply it for more effective policy engagement and strategy formation. He brings more than twenty years of experience working to apply rigorous analyses of conflict dynamics to strengthen tools for conflict assessment, improve the design of peacebuilding programs and refine systems for program monitoring and evaluation.

Previously, he was a senior conflict and peacebuilding advisor in USAID's Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. In that capacity, he directed the office's research activities and development of analytic tools to support USAID’s work in fragile and conflict-affected countries. In addition, he represented USAID in both international and U.S. policy processes to strengthen policy coherence for engagement in conflict-affected and fragile states. Before joining USAID, Dr. Hewitt was the associate director of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland. He directed multiple projects for the center, including a multi-year effort to train civil society organizations in West Africa to conduct local conflict assessments, as well as leading the center’s development of forecasting models for future conflict and political instability. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Hewitt was a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri.
 
Hewitt received his Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland and his B.A. from the University of Michigan.