Hilary Matfess is a PhD candidate in Yale University's Political Science Department and a 2020-2021 United States Institute for Peace (USIP) Peace Scholar Fellow, and a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) Africa Program. In Fall 2021, she will join the faculty at the Korbel School at the University of Denver as an Assistant Professor. 

Her research is at the intersection of security, gender, and governance, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She has conducted field work in Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, and Ethiopia. Her work has been published in International Security, Security Studies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and African Studies Review. Her work has also been published in Newsweek, IRIN, and Foreign Affairs, among others. Her first book, Women and the War on Boko Haram, was published in 2017 by Zed Publishers.