Nicholas is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Oxford.

His primary research interests are the causes, character and consequences of armed conflict and political violence, and the focus of his doctoral research is the termination and aftermath of separatist armed conflicts in the Caucasus and the Balkans, for which he did field research in Abkhazia, Georgia, Kosovo and Serbia and archival research at the UN.

His wider research interests include international security and conflict management, qualitative research methods – in particular field research in conflict-affected areas – and research ethics.