© Kay Herschelmann
Daniel Racek
Head of Department for Data Science in Crisis and Conflict Research
About
I am a statistician and data scientist by training, interested in how we can better understand, analyse, and anticipate political violence, armed conflict, and war. My research connects statistical modelling and machine learning with substantive questions in conflict research and early warning, with a particular interest in developing methods for using unstructured data such as satellite imagery and text.
My broader aim is to develop methods that are both statistically sound as well as useful for real-world applications. In addition to conflict research, I work on general statistical and methodological problems in computational social science. For my PhD dissertation, I was selected as a finalist for the 2026 German Thesis Award (Deutscher Studienpreis). My work was also covered by national and international media, including Newsweek and the Tagesschau.
I am Head of the Department for Data Science in Crisis and Conflict Research at the Center for Crisis Early Warning (CCEW), based at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. Before joining the CCEW, I was a researcher at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München, where I completed my PhD in Statistics under the supervision of Göran Kauermann, Xiaoxiang Zhu, and Paul Thurner through the Munich School for Data Science. I also hold an MSc. in Data Science and a BSc. in Economics from LMU, as well as a BSc. in Computer Science from the University of Derby.
I am always happy to chat about research, methods, or possible collaborations – just get in touch!
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