Fergus O’Leary Simpson is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp’s Institute of Development Policy (IOB) in Belgum and a visiting research fellow at Erasmus University Rotterdam's International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in the Netherlands. His research focusses on the intricacies between environmental conservation, natural resource conflicts and armed mobilisation in eastern DRCongo. His work has been published in the likes of the Journal of Peasant Studies and Political Geography. He currently teaches on courses covering culture, agency and development; and local institutions and poverty reduction at IOB. He defended his PhD at ISS on 03 October 2022.