Ponsiano is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa (FLIA). He completed his PhD in Development Studies and an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development at SOAS University of London. Ponsiano also has more than six years of experience working as a development professional in Northern Uganda, including delivering the UNICEF-funded Government of Uganda’s “Justice for Children” programme. 

His PhD thesis examines contradicting visions of the South Sudanese state and its implications for the processes of state formation within the country and in Sub Saharan Africa more broadly. It particularly focuses on citizenship and identity in the context of conflict, violence and population displacement in South Sudan, drawing on the 2005 political settlement and the most recent conflict between the government's Sudan People’s Liberation Army and the different paramilitary and social groups. Due to security issues, the research is based on field research with South Sudanese constituents in Uganda and Kenya.

Ponsiano has also recently undertaken research work focusing on the post conflict settings of the Acholi and Karamoja regions of northern Uganda for the Deconstructing Notions of Resilience project at Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. He has provided regional insights about Africa’s Great Lakes Region to the Centre of African Studies at SOAS since 2016.