Academic Friends of EPLO


Academic Friends of EPLO is an informal network of academics working on peacebuilding and conflict issues, and/or the role of the EU in peacebuilding worldwide. The purpose of the network is to connect practitioners and advocates seeking to influence the EU to make it more effective at peacebuilding with academics carrying out research on the EU and conflict.

Through the Academic Friends of EPLO we aim to encourage exchange and networking between peacebuilding practitioners, advocates, policy-makers and academics. Membership of the network does not imply endorsement by EPLO of members of the network, their publications or activities, or endorsement of EPLO, its members organisations or activities by members of the network.

For more information, please contact Lorenzo Angelini.

Recent Publications

Research projects related to EPLO’s work

Current members

A brief overview of the research interests and publications of members of the network is presented below. If you wish to contact a member of the network directly, please use the contact e-mail address provided.

New members are always welcome. For more information, please contact Lorenzo Angelini.

Dr Gulnaz Anjum – Associate Professor, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi

Dr Gulnaz Anjum is Associate Professor at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi and a Research Fellow at Karachi Urban Lab (KUL). Her research and teaching notably focus on gender and political psychology, social inequalities, climate security and inter-disciplinary policy analysis.

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Dr Christina Bache – Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics and Political Science, IDEAS

Dr Bache’s research interests include peace and conflict studies with a specific focus on the role of the private sector in fragile and conflict-affected environments, forced migration, and the women, peace, and security agenda. Currently, she is a Visiting Fellow at IDEAS, the London School of Economics and Political Science’s foreign policy think tank. She is Chair of the UN Global Compact, Principles for Responsible Management Education, Working Group on Business for Peace and Co-Chair of the International Crisis Group’s Ambassador Council. She is currently conducting research on the impact of the private sector on peace in the Middle East and North Africa region for a book project with Palgrave Macmillan.

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Dr Ioanna Bantouna – Academic fellow, Department of International & European Studies, University of Piraeus

A post-doctoral researcher at the University of Piraeus – also appointed as a visiting researcher at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies – Dr. Ioanna Bantouna has consistently sought active involvement with International and European Affairs focusing on interdisciplinary issues of international law, international relations, institutions, negotiations and European policy. Among others, after earning her Ph.D. in International and European Studies at the University of Piraeus, she has served as an adjunct lecturer for courses on “Conflict Management: Institutional and Political Aspects”, “Dispute Resolution Mechanisms”, “Negotiation of the Accession Process”, “EU, European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Mediterranean”, “Research Methodology” and “Νegotiation and Mediation” and has successfully engaged in academic activities and research partnerships for COST, EU Jean Monnet and Erasmus+ projects, including for the regional Joint Eastern-Mediterranean Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence.

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Dr Isaías Barreñada – Professor of International Relations, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Dr Barreñada’s research primarily focuses on Israel/Palestine and Morocco/Western Sahara conflicts. He has published on identity and ethnicity in MENA conflicts, Spanish foreign policy, EU’s role in International development, peace building and human rights, and social movements and civil society role in political transitions.

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Leticia Barrios Trullols – PhD Candidate, International Relations and European Integration Doctoral Programme, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB)

Ms Barrios Trullols’ research focuses on development aid and peacebuilding, in particular the extent to which fragile and conflict-affected countries can influence the shaping of the aid architecture. Her case studies are the United Nations, the OECD and the European Union.

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Dr Valentina Baú – Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

Dr. Valentina Baú conducts research on the application of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding, with a focus on realities affected by violent conflict. She explores and evaluates new communication for development approaches that employ different media and communication channels to contribute to social change and sustainable peace in the aftermath of (or during) violence. Through her current Australia Research Council Fellowship on Development communication, media and peace in protracted displacement, she is investigating the use of development communication andCommunicating with Communities (CwC) interventions aimed at promoting peace and social cohesion among young people in contexts of protracted displacement. Valentina has worked in different African countries, Asia, and the Middle East. She has collaborated with international NGOs, UN agencies and the Italian Development Cooperation, both in a research and communication capacity. Her experience involves the implementation of both qualitative research and media projects with victims and perpetrators of conflict, displaced people, refugees and people living in extreme poverty.

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Dr Anne Bazin – Associate Professor of Political Science, Sciences Po Lille

Dr Bazin works on post-conflict reconciliation as well as on transitional justice. Her work initially focused on the process of reconciliation in Central European reconciliation, post-Cold war. She has published numerous of articles and book chapters on reconciliation issues. She is also working on the external action of the EU, with a focus on conflict prevention and mediation.

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Dr Annika Björkdahl – Professor of Political Science, Lund University

Dr Björkdahl is Professor of Political Science at Lund University (Sweden). Her research includes international and local peacebuilding with a particular focus on politics of memory, cultural heritage of conflict, and vulnerable cities and urban peacebuilding. She has also written extensively on topics related to ethnographic methodologies, gender and peacebuilding and transitional justice. She has conducted fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Macedonia and Northern Ireland. She is currently conducting research within three externally funded research projects: Vulnerable Cities, The Politics of Memory and Cultural Heritage of Conflict: Peacebuilding and the Politics of Memory. She is starting up a newly funded research project on Yazidi women’s testimonies of war. Dr Björkdahl is also the Editor-in-Chief of Cooperation and Conflict and co-editor of the Palgrave Book Series Rethinking Peace and Conflict Research.

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Dr Katie Boyle – Associate Professor of International Human Rights Law, School of Law and Crucible Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Roehampton

Dr Boyle’s key research interests are substantive human rights protection/realisation as a means of securing peace, in particular economic, social and cultural rights; peaceful negotiation in state building; transitional justice; human rights; and sub-national constitutional transitions

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Dr Máire Braniff – Director of International Conflict Research Institute, University of Ulster

Dr Braniff’s research primarily focuses on the EU’s role in international peace-building and peace monitoring. She has published on a range of case studies internal and external to the EU including the Balkans, the South Caucasus, and also Spain and Northern Ireland. Dr Braniff’s research lies at the nexus of peace, justice and stability. Her key areas of interest are memory, conflict and trauma; peacebuilding including funding, networks and conditionality; and working with the past in contested societies.

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Irina Bratosin – Research Associate/PhD Student, Department of Political Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels)

Ms Bratosin’s research focuses on gender and democratic transitions in the MENA region and European foreign policy with a particular focus on the EU’s strategies to support democracy building in North Africa.

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Dr Elisabetta Brighi – Lecturer in International Relations, University of Westminister

Dr Brighi’s research interests cover foreign policy (theoretical approaches to foreign policy; European foreign policy; Italian foreign policy), international security (including war, irregular warfare, terrorism; urban security; the aesthetic and materiality of security), and international political theory (pragmatism; new materialism; mimetic theory and international relations). She is currently involved in a research project titled ‘The External policy of the European Union after Lisbon: the insights from innovations in IR theory’, funded by the European Science Foundation and led by Robert Kissack of IBEI, Barcelona.

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Camilla Edemann Callesen – PhD Candidate, International Relations, University of Kent

Camilla Edemann Callesen’s research interests include conflict analysis, conflict resolution, foreign policy analysis, humanitarian intervention and civilian protection. Her PhD dissertation focuses on Russia’s foreign policy behaviour in the context of the intractable conflicts in the post-soviet space. More specifically, she tries to explore what social psychological dynamics shape Russia’s behaviour and the behaviour of the conflict actors, and how the interaction between these dynamics may assist in sustaining the conflicts.

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Dr Alicia Cebada Romero – UNESCO/UC3M Chair in Public Freedoms and Civic Values; Associate Professor in Public International Law, University Carlos III (Madrid); Projects Manager, Women for Africa Foundation (Madrid)

Dr Cebada Romero’s research interests include: peaceful settlement of international disputes, especially international mediation, external action of the European Union and human rights.

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Dr Kalliopi Chainoglou – Research Fellow, Centre on Human Rights in Conflict, University of East London

Dr Chainoglou’s research interests focus on international peace and security, international protection of human rights (at global and regional level), human rights education, cultural rights, cultural diplomacy, intercultural dialogue, intercultural education, women’s rights, migrants’ rights, youth policies, the rights of Roma and the rights of people with disabilities.

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Dr Christine Cheng – Senior Lecturer in International Relations, War Studies, King’s College London

Christine Cheng is Senior Lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London. Dr Cheng is the author of Extralegal Groups in Post-Conflict Liberia- How Trade Makes the State (OUP), which won the 2019 Conflict Research Society’s Annual Book Prize. She co-edited Corruption and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: Selling the Peace? (Routledge) with Dominik Zaum. Working with the UK government’s Stabilisation Unit, she co-authored Securing and Sustaining Elite Bargains that Reduce Violent Conflict (with Jonathan Goodhand and Patrick Meehan), the final report of a two-year project on Elite Bargains and Political Deals in conflict-affected countries. Recently, she worked with Chatham House on a DFID-funded study of Conflict Economies in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. At King’s, Dr Cheng teaches on the MA in Conflict, Security, and Development. Previously, she was the Boskey Fellow in Politics at Exeter College, Oxford, and the Cadieux-Léger Fellow at Global Affairs Canada. She has worked for the UN and the World Bank. Dr Cheng holds a DPhil from Oxford (Nuffield) and an MPA from Princeton (Woodrow Wilson School). Dr Cheng is an advocate on gender equality issues, and is committed to increasing the number of women candidates in politics (TEDx talk). Dr Cheng sits on the Advisory Board of Women in Foreign Policy. She blogs at christinescottcheng.wordpress.com and tweets @cheng_christine.

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Dr Bruno Coppieters – Professor of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels)

Professor Coppieters’ published works deal mainly with federalism, the ethics of war and secession, and conflicts on sovereignty in the Caucasus and the Balkans.

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Dr Laura Davis – Transitional justice and peacebuilding researcher and practitioner

Dr Davis has a particular focus on the EU and Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She has published on the EU and peace mediation, transitional justice, security sector reform, and women’s participation as well as on the DRC.

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Dr Cedric de Coning – Senior Researcher, Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)

Dr de Coning is also a Senior Advisor on Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding for ACCORD and serves as Special Advisor to the Head of the Peace Support Operations Division of the African Union Commission. He is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group for the Peacebuilding Fund, and he is a member of the Expert Reference Group of the Global Thematic Consultation on Conflict, Violence and Disaster of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Cedric has a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. Recent publications include: “Rising Powers and the Future of Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding” (2013), “Peacebuilding’s Inherent Contradictions” (2011); “Coherence & Coordination: The Limits of the Comprehensive Approach” (2011); and Understanding Peacebuilding as Essentially Local (2013).

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Dr Chiara de Franco – Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Southern Denmark

Dr de Franco previously managed the ERC-funded project titled ‘Foresight: Early Warning and Preventive Policy.’ She is the author of ‘Media Power and the Transformation of War‘ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and published on other topics, including conflict prevention, mass atrocity prevention, IR and Religion, and European military doctrines.

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Twitter: @chiara_defranco

Dr Maria-Adriana Deiana – Co-director, Centre for Gender in Politics, and Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr Maria-Adriana Deiana’s research interests sit at the intersection of feminist international relations, critical peace and conflict studies, and border studies. She has published on art and creative methods in conflict and peace research; on the politics of gender and feminist activism in contexts shaped by armed conflict, international intervention and peacebuilding, and on EU border politics, peace and security. In addition, she works on transformative approaches to mediation through the lens of intersectionality and creative methods as co-PI of the project Talk4Peace. 

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Dr Clara della Valle – Post-Doctoral Researcher and Adjunct Professor, University of Bologna

Clara della Valle is post-doctoral researcher in the UnaEuropa project (since May 2021), adjunct professor and teaching tutor in International Relations (since January 2020) at the University of Bologna. Her research interests include: Gender & Security; UN, EU and national gender strategies; EU Foreign Policy (in particular, ENP); EU international actorness; Euro-Med relations; civil society in North African countries; post-colonial feminist studies; Grounded-Theory methodology. Previously, she was project manager and researcher of the project Enhancing Women’s Participation in Peace and Security (WEPPS) at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa (2020), where she also served as academic tutor of the Master in International Security Studies (2020-2021). The WEPPS project, funded by the Italian MFA and implemented in partnership with Agency for Peacebuilding (AP, Bologna) investigated the implementation of the WPS Agenda in the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo) and North Africa (Tunisia and Morocco), through research and policy dialogue activities.

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Dr Hylke Dijkstra – Director of MA in European Studies, Maastricht University

Dr Dijkstra is interested in the role of international organisations in security affairs and focuses on the EU, NATO and the UN. He has widedly published in academic journals and is the author of ‘Policy-Making in EU Security and Defence‘ (Palgrave, 2013).

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Dr Steffen Eckhard – Junior Professor of Public Administration and Organization Theory, University of Konstanz

Dr. Eckhard’s work combines empirical research on international security governance and crisis management with academic interest in the management of international organizations and foreign policy bureaucracies. He has published on topics such as learning and strategic management in peacebuilding organizations, on lessons learned in security sector reform and on crisis management by the EU, UN and OSCE in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

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Dr Giuditta Fontana – Birmingham Fellow and Leverhulme Fellow, Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security, University of Birmingham

Dr Fontana’s main research interests lie in the field of conflict management and regulation (particularly consociational power-sharing) and on the interface between political and non-political institutions, such as education systems, museums and the media. Her teaching focuses on the MENA region, but she is also interested in the politics of the Balkans and of Western Europe.

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Dr. Adrian Gallagher – Associate Professor in International Relations, University of Leeds

Dr Adrian Gallagher’s expertise lies in the study of mass violence and international response to it through the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) agreement. He has authored 1 monograph, 8 articles, and co-edited two special issue journals on this topic since 2012. He was Co-I on an ESRC Seminar Series (2013-16), PI on a White Rose Seminar Series (2013-16), founder of the BISA Working Group on Intervention and RtoP and has also provided Oral and Written Evidence to the UK Government on the crisis in Syria, Iraq and Libya. He works at the University of Leeds as part of an R2P research team who launched the European Centre for the RtoP in December 2016 http://ecr2p.leeds.ac.uk/

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Dr Nada Ghandour-Demiri – Research Fellow, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol; and Co-editor of Jadaliyya’s Daily Acts of Resistance and Subversion webpage

Dr Ghandour-Demiri’s research interests include: social movements, politics of resistance, conflict resolution, Middle Eastern politics, Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Publications:

    • ‘Israeli elections: the move rightwards and the continuation of settlement expansion‘, in Middle East Mediterranean Report, (seventh issue), (ELIAMEP, 2013)
    • ‘The (in)significance of the UN Palestine vote‘ – ELIAMEP Briefing Note 3/2013 (2013)
    • ‘Obama’s re-election, the Palestinians & the prospects for peace‘, in Middle East Mediterranean Report (sixth issue), (ELIAMEP, 2012)
      ‘An open-air prison‘, in Ethnos, 24 November 2012 [in Greek]
    • ‘Nonviolence – An Art of Resistance’, in Hanafi, Sari (ed.), State of Exception and Resistance in the Arab World, (Center for Arab Unity Studies (2010) [in Arabic]

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Dr Scherto Gill – Senior Research Fellow and Executive Secretary at the UK based think-tank Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, Visiting Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the University of Sussex

Dr Scherto’s research interests centre on understanding peace and human development as a holistic and dynamic process and how to apply this understanding in social transformation.

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Natalie Girke – PhD researcher, International Conflict Analysis, University of Kent/Brussels

Natalie Girke’s research interests are mainly centred upon mediation, facilitation and negotiation, comprehensive and context-specific approaches to conflict prevention and resolution, foreign policy analysis, and the European Union. Her PhD project focuses on the European Union as a mediator.

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Prof. Jonathan Goodhand – Professor of Conflict and Development Studies, Department of Development Studies, SOAS University of London

Prof. Goodhand is a Professor of Conflict and Development Studies in the Department of Development Studies SOAS. He is also a Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the political economy of conflict and post war transitions, with a particular focus on South and Central Asia. In recent years he has led several research projects focusing on the role of borderland regions in transitions into and out of large scale armed conflict. He is the Principal Investigator of the GCRF Drugs and (dis)order project.

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Delina Goxho – PhD Candidate, Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS)

Delina Goxho is a PhD candidate at Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy and an independent EU foreign policy analyst. Her main research interests are remote warfare, security force assistance and West Africa. She is currently working on a number of projects on Protection of Civilians (PoC) in the Sahel, EU Africa policy and Franco-German cooperation in West Africa for a number of international foundations and NGOs. Prior to being an independent analyst, Delina was a Blue book trainee and policy officer for the European External Action Service (EEAS) and research assistant for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) in Germany

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Dr Felicity Gray – School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University

Felicity Gray’s research includes international and local civilian protection with a particular focus on the use of nonviolent actions as safety and security practices. She has published works on relational peacebuilding, UN peacekeeping missions, unarmed civilian protection, and critical approaches to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. She has conducted research and worked in South Sudan, Lebanon, Myanmar, the United States, and Ukraine. She successfully defended her doctoral research in 2023, a multi-sited ethnography of unarmed civilian protection as a tool for protecting civilians in violent conflict settings. Felicity currently serves as the Global Head of Policy and Advocacy for Nonviolent Peaceforce, an international civilian protection NGO.

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Prof Dr Owen GreeneChair of Management Board, Department of Peace Studies and International Development, University of Bradford

Prof Greene is an internationally recognised expert on issues of conflict and security, and interrelationships between conflict, development, security and development. He is also co-founder and/or Chair of several relevant NGOs, including for example Saferworld (Chair of Board 2004 – 2017). He is in high demand as a consultant or special advisor for the UN, OSCE, EU, UK and many governments and multilateral policy negotiations and meetings on such issues. His research interests include conflict and fragility analysis; conflict prevention; security and peacebuilding in countries emerging from war; non-proliferation and disarmament (especially small arms, conventional and nuclear weapons; regional security (especially Europe, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa); effectiveness of international agreements; security and justice sector reform; and armed violence reduction.

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Janna Greve – PhD Researcher, KU Leuven

Ms Greve’s research focuses on restorative justice as part of transitional justice and its contributions to wider peace-making. Within this investigative framework, she studies the role of marginalized communities in contexts transitioning from violent conflict (or an oppressive regime) to peace (and rule of law-based democracy). Her aim is to advance the debate on restorative justice and positive peace-making and to contribute findings on the deliberate engagement of most vulnerable segments of society – who are also often amongst the most affected by conflict-related atrocities – in the design and implementation of transformative measures.

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Marion Greziller – PhD Researcher, University of Manchester

Marion Greziller is currently a PhD researcher at The University of Manchester. Her research explores the Women, Peace and Security agenda and gender expertise within the structures of Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union, with a focus on civilian CSDP missions. More broadly, her research interests lie at the intersection between gender, security and EU studies using practice and feminist institutionalist approaches. Marion is also one of the editors for the Manchester based and postgraduate-led journal Political Perspectives.

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Dr Toni Haastrup – Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of Stirling

Dr Haastrup joined the University of Stirling in July 2019 as Senior Lecturer in International Politics. She is broadly interested in the Global Governance of Security primarily through the workings of regional security institutions. She has been researching the politics of both the African and European Unions in this regard since 2007. A part of her current research agenda uses critical feminist lens to understand the foreign policy practices of both institutions. She has also taught extensively on the politics of European security, contemporary global security challenges and crisis in Europe. She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis (BA), the University of Cape Town (MA), and the University of Edinburgh (PhD).

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Dr Sophie Haspeslagh – International Relations Department, London School of Economics and Political Science

Dr Haspeslagh studies the effects of international proscription on peace processes. She has extensive field and policy experience, including in and on Colombia, Algeria on early warning, governance and human rights issues. She holds a PhD degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Masters degree in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and a BSc in Politics from the University of Bristol.

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Dr Felix Heiduk – Associate Researcher, German Institute for International and Security Affairs

Dr Heiduk’s main research interest are in the field of European security and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), in particular with regard to Security Sector Reform (SSR), conflict transformation and counter terrorism policies.

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Bruno Hellendorff – Joint Research Fellow at Egmont Institute

Mr Hellendorff’s key research interests are natural resources management and peacebuilding in West Africa; Indonesia’s foreign policy; defence and security in Asia-Pacific, particularly Southeast Asia.

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Amy Herr – PhD Researcher, Department of Peace Studies and International Development, University of Bradford

As part of her PhD research, Herr is conducting a comparative analysis on EU countries’ national action plans (NAPs) for UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). She is particularly examining NAPs in terms of civil society participation and regional engagement; how countries are developing indicators and monitoring progress; and what factors are impacting implementation efforts. Herr has conducted over 75 interviews with ministry and government officials, academics, and NGO representatives engaged in the WPS agenda across the EU.

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Dr Melanie Hoewer – Lecturer, Assistant Professor, School of Politics & International Relations at the University College Dublin

Dr Hoewer’s primary areas of research are gender, peace and conflict, security, intersectionality, women’s rights, Latin American politics and Northern Ireland. She has published on gender and identity in peace and conflict processes in Northern Ireland and Chiapas, Mexico, on intersecting boundary processes in the ethno-national conflict and settlement processes, women, peace and security in Ireland, Resistance to State Violence in Chiapas, etc.

Dr Hoewer also advises the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on their UNSCR 1325 Action Plans on women, peace and security.

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Twitter: @melaniehoewer

Dr Daniela Irrera – Associate Professor of Political Science and IR, Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Catania

Dr Irerra has researched and published in the areas of International Relations and EU politics, dealing with terrorism, transnational organised crime, European security and peace missions, civil society and humanitarian affairs.

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Luise Beatrice Istrate – Civil-military Interaction Research Analyst and Coursework builder

Ms Istrate is a Romanian Academic, and former freelance researcher at the European institutions in Brussels and of Strasbourg, and former Intern and Research Analyst at the NATO-affiliated think tank organisation the Civil-Military Co-operation Center of Excellence (CCOE), MSc in Promoting Security through International Relations as part of the European Studies, Defence and Security Management Academic fora, civil-military relations subject-matter-expert (SME), primarily specialised in Civil-military co-operation and civil-military interaction (CMI); research analysis and conceptual development.

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Dr. Carolina Jiménez Sánchez – Lecturer in International Law and International Relations, University of Málaga

Dr Jiménez Sánchez’s research focuses on connecting gender with peace and security, specially women and girls in armed conflict and post-conflict societies. She is currently working on the “Women, Peace and Security” agenda in the European Union. In addition, her work focuses on the role of women as refugees and migrants in the EU, the Common European Asylum System and the Western Sahara conflict.

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Hubertus Jürgenliemk – PhD student, University of Cambridge

Mr Jürgenliemk’s research focuses on the civilian aspects of the EU’s crisis management and the linkages to development policy based on field research in Kosovo and the DR Congo. His wider research interests are EU cooperation with NATO and the United Nations, civilian crisis management and European security governance.

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Dr Ana E. Juncos Garcia – Reader in European Politics, University of Bristol

Dr Juncos’ research focuses on EU foreign and security policy, peacebuilding, statebuilding, security sector reform and EU enlargement, with a particular focus on the Western Balkans. Her previous research project examined the EU’s contribution to post-conflict stabilisation and conflict resolution in Bosnia since the dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation in 1991. Recent publications include EU Foreign and Security Policy in Bosnia. The Politics of Coherence and Effectiveness (Manchester University Press, 2013) and EU Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management (with Eva Gross, Routledge, 2011).

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Dr Stefanie Kappler – Associate Professor in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, Durham University

Dr Kappler is Associate Professor in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding at Durham University. She is particularly interested in critical approaches to peacebuilding, in the contested and transformative nature of local imaginations of peace, and in what constitutes agency and how we can come to an understanding of peacebuilding agents that avoids their (colonial) essentialisation and takes account of their multidimensional character. She is currently working on externally-funded research projects on the role of the arts in processes of peace formation, the cultural heritage of conflict, memory politics and peacebuilding as well as decolonising peace education. She has research experience in the Western Balkans, South Africa, Cyprus and Northern Ireland and is Associate Editor of the journal Peacebuilding.

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Dr John Karlsrud – Research Professor, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

John Karlsrud is Head of the Research group on peace, conflict and development, co-Principal Investigator of ADHOCISM, examining the role of ad hoc coalitions in global governance, and PI of NAVIGATOR, a Horizon Europe project exploring changes in global cooperation across a range of issues.

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Dr Vladimir Kmec – Research Associate at St Edmund’s College and at the European Centre, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge

Dr Kmec studies the peacebuilding, peacekeeping and state-building practices of the UN peace missions and of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations, with a particular focus on the Western Balkans and on Mali / the Sahel. He also has expertise on the institutional policy-making of the UN and of the EU’s CFSP/ CSDP/EEAS. His other research areas include ethnic and religious conflicts, the role of religion in conflict and peacebuilding, religion, migration and identity politics, human rights and gender, and conflict resolution, mediation and negotiation. He has advised the UN, the EU and other organisations, and has previously worked at the UN HQ (DPKO, UNMAS).

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Prof Dr Joachim A. Koops – Chair and Professor of Security and Director of the Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University

His research focuses on cooperation and rivalry between major international organizations (UN, EU, NATO and African Union) in the field of peacebuilding, the nexus between peacekeeping and peacebuilding and the UN Peacebuilding Commission. He is currently the Co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and serves as an Advisor to the Head of the UN Liaison Office for Peace & Security (UNLOPS), Brussels.

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Dr Sari Kouvo – Co-director and Co-founder, Afghanistan Analysts Network; Lecturer – Gothenburg University, Vrije Universiteit Brussels and Kent University

Dr Kouvo has previously worked for the International Centre for Transitional Justice, Amnesty International and the European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan. She holds a Doctorate in international law from Gothenburg University, she is a honorary research fellow at Kent University and has held visiting scholarships at several universities, including the Australian National University and the NATO Defense College.

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Research Fellow and Chair for Political Science, Theory and Empiricism of International Relations, Helmut-Schmidt-University / University of the Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany

Dan Krause is writing his PhD on R2P and non-western democracies. His further research interests include the external relations and foreign and security and defence policies of the EU, NATO, conflicts in the Balkans (personal experience as a soldier with KFOR) and defence and security in the Indopacific from an European perspective.

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Dr. Tetiana Kyselova – Associate Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, School of Law

Dr Kyselova’s expertise lies in the study of mediation and dialogue facilitation as instruments of conflict resolution and transformation, Alternative Dispute Resolution and access to justice. Apart from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Dr. Kyselova teaches and conducts research at the Center for Peace Mediation, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder). Dr. Kyselova was a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Torino, Italy (2015-2017) with a research project on impediments to mediation and dialogue in Ukraine. She has served as an advisor to the Parliamentary Drafting Committee on Mediation Law and to international organisations including the Council of Europe, the International Finance Corporation/World Bank Group, the OSCE and the UN Development Program.

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Dr Elisa Lopez Lucia – Assistant Professor in International relations, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Elisa Lopez Lucia is an Assistant Professor in International Relations at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She has a PhD in international politics from the University of Warwick and is part of the steering committee of the West African Peace and Security Network (WAPSN). She works on regional security practices in West Africa, and on ECOWAS and the G5 Sahel’s security role in the region. Her research also focuses on post-Lisbon Treaty changes in the EU’s external action, and on the development and implementation of the EU’s Integrated Approach. In particular, she examines how these changes have impacted the EU’s action in the Sahel and in West Africa. Finally, her research interests also concern the links between security policies and the construction and (re)configuration of regional spaces.

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Dr Louise Mallinder – Professor of Law at Queen’s University Belfast, School of Law

Professor Mallinder’s research interests include human rights, transitional justice and international law with a particular focus on in amnesty laws, the role of lawyers as transitional actors, and socio-legal research methods related to transitional justice.

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Esther Marijnen – Postdoctoral Fellow, Ghent University

Ms Marijnen key research interests are: the link between local and international peace building, conflict transformation, regional conflict formations, conflict sensitive development cooperation, and the ‘impact’ of EU peace building efforts. Approaching peace building from a broad perspective; including security but as well developmental policies. Geographical specialisation is the Great Lakes region, and in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

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Dr Maria Martin de Almagro – Assistant Professor in Gender and Politics at the Université de Montréal (Canada), member of the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CEPSI-CIPSS), and member of the Montreal Centre for International Studies (CERIUM).

Dr Martin de Almagro’s research focuses on the United Nations Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security agenda. She has written extensively on the advocacy around, and implementation of, the Women, Peace and Security agenda at global, national, and local levels in post-conflict contexts. She is currently working on a research project on the linkages between the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and transitional justice mechanisms in Colombia, Liberia, Sierra Leone. She is particularly interested in poststructural and postcolonial accounts of gender and security and in feminist and interpretive methodologies.

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Dr Alexander Mattelaer – Academic Director, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels)

Dr Mattelaer’s research interests include European defence policy (CSDP/NATO), civil-military relations and operations planning. He teaches conflict studies at Vesalius College and frequently gives guest lectures on European security affairs.

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Dr. Anna Matveeva – Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London; member of the Russia and Eurasia Security Research Group

Dr Matveeva’s areas of interest include international conflict prevention and peacebuilding, ethno-political conflict in Central Asia and the Caucasus, gender in peace and security agenda, democratisation and governance in Russia and CIS.

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Dr Kenneth McDonagh – Associate Professor in International Relations, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University

Dr Kenneth McDonagh is currently conducting research on small States in the CSDP with a particular focus on Slovakia and Ireland and the EU peacekeeping missions in Tchad/RCA and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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Dr Sara McDowell – Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Ulster University

Sara McDowell‘s work focuses on the ways in which the past is navigated in contested public spaces in societies emerging from conflict. She is particularly interested in how debates over the legacy and representation of the past can impact the dynamics of a peace process. Previous projects include an analysis of the relationship between memory and peacebuilding in South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Israel/Palestine, Sri Lanka and the Basque Country.

Sara has recently completed an AHRC Impact and Public Engagement Project entitled ‘Connecting Commemorative Communities’ which sought to create an advocacy network of good practice in post-conflict Northern Ireland and engaged with public bodies to explore ways in which contested commemorative practices can be managed. She is the author of Commemoration as Conflict: Memory, Identity and Heritage in Peace Processes.

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Dr Ina Merdjanova – Senior Researcher and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Trinity College Dublin

Dr Merdjanova’s research has been focused on religion and peacebuilding in the Balkans; Muslims in the Balkans; Islam in Europe; gender activism, the Kurdish peace process in Turkey; religion, politics and society in Turkey. Her recent publications include the books “Rediscovering the Umma: Muslims in the Balkans between Nationalism and Transnationalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) and “Religion as a Conversation Starter: Interreligious Dialogue for Peacebuidling in the Balkans” (with Patrice Brodeur, London: Continuum, 2010).

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Dr Patrick Meehan – Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Development Studies, SOAS University of London

Dr Meehan’s research explores the political economy of violence, conflict and development, and engages specifically with the relationship between illicit economies and processes of state-building and peace-building in borderland and frontier regions with a primary focus on Myanmar’s borderlands with China. Dr Meehan completed his PhD on this subject in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS in 2016 and he is now a Co-Investigator on a £7 million research project entitled ‘Drugs and (dis)order: Building sustainable peacetime economies in the aftermath of war’, which focuses on Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar.

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Hans Merket – PhD Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), European Law Department, Ghent University (Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence)

As a researcher in EU external relations law Mr Merket prepares a PhD on the policy, institutional and judicial aspects of EU policies that span the security-development nexus. His specific research interests cover EU and international development, security and human rights policies, the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), state fragility, the Horn of Africa, aid effectiveness and migration. He has previously worked on aid programming as part of the European Commission’s DG DEVCO and on governance and human rights within the EU Delegation to Ethiopia.

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Dr Manuela Mesa – Director of DEMOSPAZ and CEIPAZ

Dr Mesa has a PhD in sociology and anthropology from the Complutense University of Madrid and is specialised in education for peace, gender and peace studies. She is the co-director of the University Institute of Human Rights, Democracy, Culture of Peace and Nonviolence (DEMOSPAZ-UAM) in Madrid and the director of the Center for Education and Research for Peace (CEIPAZ), of the Culture of Peace Foundation. For more than three decades, she has worked in Development NGOs and Peace Research Centres, and directed diverse research projects. She has been the director of the Annual Year Book on Peace and Conflict since 2004. Her research focus is gender, peace and security, global citizenship and communication for peace.

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Prof Christoph Meyer (MPhil PhD, Cambridge) – Professor of European & International Politics at King’s College London as well as Vice-Dean Research of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy

Professor Meyer is interested in the effective communication of timely warnings about violent conflict and mass atrocities and under what conditions such warnings enable preventive action. He has written widely on issues relating to European security and defence policy and has recently co-chaired an expert task force (with K.E. Smith) on how the EU can strengthen its capacities for preventing mass atrocities.

Publications:

    • (with Karen Smith et al) The EU ans the Prevention of Mass Atrocities: An Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses (2013)
    • ‘Missing the Story? Changes in Foreign News Reporting and Their Implications for Conflict Prevention’, in Media, War and Conflict Volume 5, N° 3, pp. 205-221 (2012)
    • (with Chiara de Franco) Forecasting, Warning and Responding to Transnational Risks(Palgrave, 2011)
    • (with J. Brante, C. de Franco, F. Otto) Worse, Not Better?’ Reinvigorating Early Warning for Conflict Prevention in the Post-Lisbon European Union – Egmont Paper N° 48 (Academia Press, 2011)

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Christoph Mikulaschek – Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Government, Harvard University

Mr Mikulaschek’s research focuses on compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, multilateral sanctions, and peace operations.

Publications include an academic journal issue on ‘The UN Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect: Policy, Process, and Practice‘ (co-editor, Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, 2011) and ‘The UN Security Council and Civil War: First Insights from a New Dataset‘ (co-author, International Peace Institute, 2011).

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Dr Hanna L. Muehlenhoff – Assistant Professor in European Studies, University of Amsterdam

Dr Hanna L. Muehlenhoff is Assistant Professor in European Studies with a focus on ‘Europe in the World’ at the Department of European Studies, University of Amsterdam (UvA), The Netherlands. Her research interests include the EU’s human rights promotion, gender and security policies. She is the author of EU Democracy Promotion and Governmentality: Turkey and Beyond (Routledge, 2019) and has co-edited a special issue on gender in EU external relations for Political Studies Review (2020). Her work has been published in Politics, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Cooperation and Conflict, and Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

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Dr Joanne Murphy – Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr Joanne Murphy is Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor in Queen’s University’s Management School and Academic Director of the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute. She is also a Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice and a Senior Fellow of Northern Ireland’s policy Think Tank – Pivotal. Her research explores leadership, change and organisational development in political volatility, including environments affected by ethno-political conflict. She has worked extensively with business, government, not for profits and police and security organisations to build leadership capacity, management change and achieve resilience. Her latest book is entitled Management and War: How Organisations Navigate Conflict and Build Peace.

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Dr Vjosa Musliu – Doctor Assistant at Faculty of Political Science, Free University of Brussels.

Dr Musliu’s work is concentrated in international missions, focusing on the case of the EU mission in Kosovo. Her research interest include international interventions and missions, CSDP missions, Western Balkans, Kosovo, democracy promotion, peace building and transitional justice.

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Dr Katariina Mustasilta – Postdoctoral Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Dr Mustasilta is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Her research applies both quantitative and qualitative methods and focuses on countries’ internal conflict dynamics, civil unrest, and local and international conditions for preserving peace. She has taught at and holds a PhD from the Government Department at the University of Essex and has a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University. She has previously worked with peacebuilding issues in both public and non-governmental sectors.

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Dr Fionnuala Ni Aolain – Regents Professor & Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society
Faculty Director, Human Rights Center; Professor, Queen’s University of Belfast, School of Law, Northern Ireland

Professor Ni Aolain’s key research interests are sexual violence in conflict, the gender dimensions of transitional justice, post-conflict reconstruction, international criminal law, the law of armed conflict, terrorism and counter-terrorism.

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Prof Rory O’Connell – Research Director for Law, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster

Professor O’Connell writes widely on the topics of human rights, equality and discrimination law and constitutional law.

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Christian Opitz – Project Assistant, EU Division, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs)

Mr Opitz works on the relationships between Germany and the Nordic countries. He is also writing his PhD thesis on the Nordic collaboration in foreign and security affairs. Of particular interest are the regional coordination and cooperation networks within the decision making of the civilian CSDP.

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Prof Alpaslan Özerdem – Professor of Peacebuilding and Co-Director of Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK

With over 15 year field research experience in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Turkey, Professor Alpaslan Özerdem specializes in the politics of humanitarian interventions, security sector reform, reintegration of former combatants, post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding.

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Dr Carsten Paludan-Müller – Affiliated member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre

Carsten is an archaeologist, PhD from the University of Copenhagen 1980. He has held leading positions within museums and heritage management in Denmark.
From 2003 until retirement in 2017 he was the General Director of NIKU, The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research. He is now Affiliated Member of Cambridge Heritage Research Centre. Since 2011 he has worked with cultural heritage as a platform for cooperation between Turkish and Armenian heritage experts in projects supported by the Norwegian MFA. A particular focus has been on Armenian heritage in Eastern Anatolia. His research focus is on the geopolitics of heritage, especially in conflict zones of Eurasia and North Africa. One aim is to develop our understanding of how long historical processes and cross-cultural sharing are themselves mirrored in our definition, perception, and use of cultural heritage. Another aim is to answer questions about why targeted destruction of heritage happens in conflict. A third aim is to contribute to our understanding of how cultural heritage can become an asset in post-conflict development of viable communal life, and prevention of new conflict.

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Dr Sophia Papastavrou Faustmann – Researcher and trainer, Member of the Gender Advisory Team (UNSCR1325)-Cyprus

Dr Papastavrou is a trainer and speaker focusing on gender capacity building and integration, gender minimum standards, proposal development as well as grant acquisition. She specializes in the women, peace and security agenda and the EU’s policy on gender mainstreaming. Her research interests include UNSCR 1325; Women and War Studies; Transnational Feminism; Sexual and Gender-Based Violence; Gender and Development; Nationalism; Conflict Identity; Feminist Epistemology; Decolonization; Militarism; EU Development Policy; Feminist Foreign Policy.

Dr Papastavrou has worked for United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Cyprus, Uganda, and Ghana. Currently based in Cyprus, she held the position of Gender Learning Hub Leader and Gender Technical Lead at World Vision International, Middle East and Eastern Europe Regional Office.

Some of her recent publications include White Book of Best Practice: Implementation of UNSCR1325. FES & World Vision, Nicosia, Cyprus (2017), Women & Gender in Cyprus. Friends of Cyprus Report. Issue No 58. London, UK. (2016) and Decolonizing the Cypriot Woman: Moving beyond the rhetoric of the Cyprus problem. The Cyprus Review, University of Nicosia, (24) 2, 95-108. (2012).

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Emma Patterson-Bennett – Equality Officer for the Committee on the Administration of Justice and Equality Coalition Coordinator, BrexitLawNI

Emma continues to provide support to the All Party Working Group on 1325 at the Northern Ireland Assembly, Emma is interested in women’s role in peacebuilding in the Northern Irish context and has also worked on looking at where women are 15 years on from the Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement.

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Prof Annemarie Peen Rodt – Associate Professor, Institute for Strategy, Royal Danish Defence College

Research focus: EU as a Security Provider, in particular through crisis management and protection of civilians. Ongoing H2020 projects: ‘Improving Effectiveness of Capabilities in EU Conflict Prevention’ and ‘Preventing and Responding to Conflict: Developing EU Civilian Capabilities’. Recent books: European Union and Military Conflict Management: Defining, Evaluating and Achieving Success; and with Stefan Wolff, Self-determination after Kosovo. Geographic focus: Wider Europe (especially Balkans, Georgia, Ukraine & Moldova) and Africa (especially DRC, CAR, South Sudan and Libya).

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Dr Giulia Prelz Oltramonti – Assistant Professor in International relations, ESPOL, Université Catholique de Lille

Dr Prelz Oltramonti is Associate Professor in International Relations at ESPOL and associate member of the REPI of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and of the CECRI of the Université Catholique de Louvain. Her research focuses on political economies of war, border and boundary practices, with a geographical focus on the South Caucasus.

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Dr Paul Reilly – Senior Lecturer in Social Media & Digital Society, University of Sheffield

Dr Reilly specialises in the study of online political communication, with a specific interest in how social media is used to promote better community relations in divided societies. He has written one book on the role of the internet in conflict transformation in Northern Ireland (Framing the Troubles Online: Northern Irish Groups and Website Strategy, Manchester University Press 2011) and is currently writing his second on the role of social media in promoting positive intercommunity relations in the region (due 2016). His work has been published in a number of journals including Information, Communication & Society, New Media & Society, Policy and Internet and Urban Studies. His recently completed research projects include a British Academy funded study of YouTube footage of the union flag protests in Northern Ireland, and a Northern Ireland Community Relations Council funded study of the role of social media during controversial parades and protests in the region.

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Dr Yf Reykers – Assistant Professor in International Relations, Maastricht University

Yf Reykers is Assistant Professor in International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University. He is co-Principal Investigator of ADHOCISM, examining the role of ad hoc coalitions in global governance, and Co-Editor of the journal Contemporary Security Policy. He studies issues relating to European security and defence, with a particular interest in rapid crisis response, the politics of multinational military operations, and questions of accountability.

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Dr Heidi Riley – Research Fellow, University College Dublin

Dr Riley’s research focuses on gender and armed conflict, with a particular focus on conflict masculinities and the women peace and security agenda, and conflict-related trauma (responses to and implications of). In addition, she works on issues related to peace mediation and negotiated settlements, with a focus on transformative approaches from an intersectional perspective. She is currently co-Principal Investigator for the Talk4Peace project on transformative mediation as a mechanism for inclusive dialogue.

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Bérangère Rouppert – Political Council for the General Commandant of the Barkhane Force, Minsitry of the Army, France

Ms Rouppert’s works focus on security and defense issues. She is currently in charge of the EU policy for the Sahel region. Her other key research interest is on non-proliferation and disarmament issues, concerning more particularly weapons of mass destruction.

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Dr Meike Rodekamp – Policy Analyst at the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat)

Dr Rodekamp’s research interest include civil society organizations, (democratic) governance in the EU, legitimacy, European security and defence policy.

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Arlinda Rrustemi – Strategic Analyst, The Hague Center for Strategic Studies

Ms Rrustemi’s research interests are post-conflict state/nation/peacebuilding, political mobilisation, the accountability of international organisations, foreign policy and diplomacy. Focusing on Kosovo, she analyses the role of international actors like UN, NATO, EU, G7+ and local actors and their influence on legitimacy, democracy, justice (including transitional justice), security and regional integration.

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Dr Anne Smith – Senior Lecturer at the Transitional Justice Institute/School of Law, Ulster University

Dr Smith’s research interest is comparative constitutional law, human rights and equality, underpinned by theories of a dialogical approach in these areas with a particular focus on National Human Rights Institutions, Bills of Rights and their role in promoting human rights and equality.

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Dr Anna Katharina Stahl – Senior Associate Researcher, Institute for European Studies (IES), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

Dr Stahl’s research focuses on EU foreign and security policy, emerging countries/BRICS, Chinese foreign and aid policy, fragile states, the Security-Development Nexus and the African Peace and Security Architecture. She completed a Ph.D. dissertation on the EU-China-Africa Trilateral Relations at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). In this context, she carried out field research in China and in various African countries. In addition to her academic activities, Dr. Stahl gained working experience at the Council of Europe, the EU, the UN and GIZ.

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Dr Elena B. Stavrevska – Lecturer in International Relations, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS), University of Bristol

Dr Elena B. Stavrevska is a peace scholar whose work and numerous publications have explored issues of gender, intersectionality, transitional justice, and political economy in conflict-affected societies. Most recently she co-edited a book focusing on the everyday manifestations of the political economy of peace, published by Routledge in April 2019. Her work has also appeared in different edited volumes and international peer-reviewed journals, such as International Peacekeeping and Civil Wars. Dr Stavrevska is also working on her book manuscript with focus on gender provisions in peace agreements and the ways in which they are translated into laws and policies. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with Roma women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and indigenous women in Colombia, the book highlights the gendered and intersectional impact of those ‘translations’ and advances the concept of intersectional justice in peace processes.

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Dr Eglantine Staunton – Research Fellow, School of Politics and International Studies/European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, University of Leeds

Dr Eglantine Staunton’s research interests lie broadly in human protection (in particular, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect), France’s foreign policy, the EU’s approach to human protection, and International Relations theory. Dr Staunton is particularly interested in constructivism and the study of the interplay between domestic and international norms.

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Dr. Aisling Swaine, Assistant Professor in Gender and Security, Gender Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science

Dr Swaine research interests are in conflict-related violence against women, humanitarianism and human rights, peacebuilding and institutional strategies towards gender equality. Prior to her current post, Aisling worked with the United Nations and international non-governmental aid organizations in humanitarian and post-conflict recovery settings globally, as well as at international policy levels.

Dr Swaine is also a Visiting Fellow at the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University. She is an appointed ‘Expert’ to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Foreign Policy Network, is a member of the Faculty Advisory Council of the Global Women’s Institute, George Washington University and is appointed to a number of UN advisory expert rosters.

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Lara Talsma – PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam Law School

Lara Talsma is a PhD Candidate at the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL) and the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance(ACELG). Lara’s research deals with the UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and explores in which way the European Union (EU), in its external action, gives effect to and contributes to the development of the participation pillar of the WPS Agenda. She investigates the EU’s efforts in the various stages of conflict cycles, that is, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. For a critical analysis of the EU’s laws, policies and actions, Lara uses feminist theories. Prior to entering academia, Lara practiced law as an attorney and worked in (EU) asylum law and human rights advocacy.

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Dr. Charles Tenenbaum – Associate Professor at Sciences Po Lille and Director of the Conflict & Development Program

Dr. Charles Tenenbaum holds a doctorate in political science from Sciences Po Paris. Specialized in the study of conflict resolution and international mediation, his research interests currently focus on European Union and Peacemaking, the contribution of religious actors in international relations, and peace building in multilateral settings.

Consultant for the United Nations (2011, 2015) and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre, 2013), trainer at the French National School of Administration (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016), he was a trainer and facilitator for the Wilson Center facilitative initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2009, IRENE) along with subsequent initiatives in Mali, Burundi, Georgia and the Middle East. He is a member of the Network on Peace Operations (ROP).

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Dr Giulia Tercovich – Assistant Professor, Vesalius College, VUB

Dr Tercovich focuses on the EU as a Global Actor, EU Crisis Response and Civil Protection, EU Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management, CFSP/CSDP, EEAS, Comprehensive Approach, Global Governance and inter-regionalism, as well as on Innovative Teaching Methods.

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Dr Georgios Terzis – Associate Professor, Vesalius College and Senior Associate Researcher, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels)

Dr Terzis’ research focuses on media and security governance, European media governance, and public diplomacy.

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Dr Stef Vandeginste – Senior Lecturer, Institute for Development Policy and Management, Antwerp University

Dr Vandeginste’s main research interests include human rights, armed conflict, transitional justice and political transitions with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Antoine Vandemoortele – Senior Researcher and Communications & Publications Manager, Centre for Security Governance

Mr Vandemoortele has published on EU peace and security policies, Canadian foreign policy and security sector reform. His main areas of expertise are security sector reform, local communities and peace, informal/non-state peacebuilding and, geographically, Southeastern Europe (Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania), Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Dr Dacia Viejo Rose – Senior Lecturer in Heritage and the Politics of the Past, University of Cambridge

Dr Dacia Viejo Rose is Senior Lecturer in Heritage and the Politics of the Past and Deputy Director of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests lie at the nexus between cultural heritage and the politics of the past. At the moment her work focuses on how cultural heritage is used (and abused) during armed conflicts to divide, exclude, and intimidate. The motivation behind this line of questioning is to try and discover potential mechanisms for ‘disarming’ heritage so that it can be a tool for constructive dialogue, dignity, and respect.

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Julia von Dobeneck – Senior Project Manager & Researcher, Center for Peace Mediation (CPM) of the Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Ms von Dobenecks’ research interests include the professionalization of dialogue facilitation on track three and multi-track mediation/dialogue approaches. She is involved in a German-Ukrainian research project on Implementing Mediation & Dialogue in Ukraine and in the development of Peace Mediation as an instrument of Civilian Crisis Prevention and Conflict Management in Germany’s Foreign Policy.

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Martin Wählisch – Associate for Middle East and North Africa, Berghof Institute; Senior Researcher, Center for Peace Mediation, European University Viadrina, Humboldt Viadrina School of Governance; and Fellow, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut

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Prof Richard G. Whitman – Professor of Politics and International Relations, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent; Associate Fellow – Chatham House; Academic Fellow – European Policy Centre

Professor Whitman’s current research interests include the external relations and foreign and security and defence policies of the EU, and the governance and future priorities of the EU.

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Twitter: @Monnet_musings

Antonia Witt – Research Associate, Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS), University of Bremen

Antonia Witt is writing her PhD on international mediation interventions after coups d’état in Africa (Madagascar and Guinea). Before joining InIIS in 2011, she worked as a trainee at the EU Delegation to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her research interests cover unconstitutional changes of government, international norms and legitimacy, international mediation, the African Union and the African Peace and Security Architecture, as well as International Contact Groups.

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Dr Stefan Wolff – Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham

Dr Wolff has extensively written on ethnic conflict and civil war, international conflict management and state-building. In his scholarly publications he has geographically covered Western Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, as well as Sudan, Iraq, and the countries of the Arab Spring. Bridging the divide between academia and policy-making, he has been involved in various phases of conflict settlement processes, including in Transnistria/Moldova, Kirkuk/Iraq, and Yemen.

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Dr Katharine A. M. Wright – Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Newcastle University

Dr Katharine A. M. Wright is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University (UK). Her research explores the intersection of gender and security in institutional settings, including the engagement of NATO and the EU with the Women, Peace and Security agenda. She is the co-author of NATO, Gender and the Military: Women Organising from Within (Routledge, 2019), which received an honourable mention in the British International Studies Association (BISA) Susan Strange book prize in 2020. Her work has also published in leading peer-reviews journals including International Affairs, British Journal of Politics and International Relations and JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies.

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Dr Nick Wright – Teaching Fellow in EU Politics, University College London

Dr Wright’s research focuses on how EU member states, particularly Britain, Germany and France, make foreign policy within the context of the CFSP. Amongst other issues, it examines: the foreign policy co-ordination systems they have established at capital and Brussels’ levels; the processes by which they seek to upload particular national preferences to the EU level; and the impact of long-term foreign policy cooperation on their national foreign policy-making processes and agendas. As part of this, Dr Wright is particularly interested in the establishment and development of the European External Action Service, and the impact this institution is having on member state foreign policy making; and how CSDP has developed and evolved in the years since St Malo.

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Dr Rok Zupancic – Lecturer and Research Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences (Chair of Defence Studies), University of Ljubljana

Dr Zupancic’s research focuses on the concepts of conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the Balkans and Afghanistan, as well as other issues linked to the role of international organisations in security affairs.

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