Since 1995, Markus has worked on issues related to poverty and to the economic dimensions of conflict, with a focus on youth integration, employment in post-conflict situations, conflict-sensitive development programming and business interventions. Before joining Alert, he worked in Sri Lanka for the University of Heidelberg’s South Asia Institute and the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). He has a PhD in Development Geography from the University of Heidelberg on youth conflict and development planning, and is co-editor of Building local capacities for peace: Rethinking conflict and development in Sri Lanka (2003) and The challenge of youth unemployment in Sri Lanka (2010).