Peace News Expert Network

Quhramaana Kakar manages Conciliation Resources’ Women Mediators across the Commonwealth program, and is a former adviser to the High Peace Council of Afghanistan.

Rabina Shresthais the Country Director of International Alert Nepal. She is a gender equality, justice, peacebuilding and rule of law expert with extensive experience working on human rights, transitional justice, media rights and rule of law in Nepal.

Dr. Richard (Drew) Marcantonio is a researcher, teacher, and practitioner focused on regenerative and durable livelihoods, environmental management and policy, environmental and other violence, and peacebuilding. He is the author of Environmental Violence: In the Earth System and the Human Niche (2022; Cambridge University Press), co-author of the textbook Environmental Management: Concepts and Practical Skills (2022; Cambridge University Press), and lead co-editor (with John Paul Lederach and Agustin Fuentes) of Environmental Violence Explored (2024; Cambridge University Press). He has published numerous peer-reviewed, policy, and public facing articles in periodicals ranging fromPeacebuildingtoEnvironmental Science and Policyto the popular periodical theBulletin of Atomic Scientists. He has conducted research and practice on these critical issues on five continents working with communities, elected officials, regulators, corporations, and NGOs alike.

Robert Kosho Ndiyun is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Tshwane University of Technology. He was previously a PhD researcher at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research focuses on transitional justice in conflict and post conflict situations. He also Lectured at International University Bamenda in Cameroon, Heritage Higher Institute of Peace and Development Studies Yaoundé, and Higher Institute of Educational and Professional Studies, Yaoundé.

Dr. Rodrigo Mena Fluhmann is an Assistant Professor of Disasters and Humanitarian Governance, also serving as the Deputy Director of the Humanitarian Studies Centre (HSCOpens external) and Coordinator of the Safety and Security Research Initiative(SSRi). With almost twenty years of experience, his focus has been on disaster governance (disaster response and risk reduction), climate change, humanitarian action, and environmental sociology, particularly in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable (FCV) settings. He teachs courses covering humanitarian, disaster risk reduction, and complex emergency governance; research methodology, both quantitative and mixed methods; and research ethics, safety, and security.

At the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), he co-coordinates the Humanitarian Governance project (HUM-GOV), funded by a European Research Council (ERC) advanced grant. This project delves into the evolving dynamics of humanitarian governance, with special attention to civil society actors and crisis-affected populations. Additionally, he contributes to the coordination of the Observatorio Humanitario de América Latina y el Caribe (OH-LACOpens external).

Rok Zupančič, PhD, is a Full Professor at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences. His expert sphere includes peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and regional security (Southeast Europe). He is the Principal Investigator in the research project "Anxieties in cities of Southeast European post-conflict societies: introducing an integrative approach to peacebuilding," which explores how different sort of anxieties in post-conflict societies affect the bodies and minds of people, and how this hinders the attempts to reduce the ethnic distance between people previously involved in armed conflicts.

Dr Ronan Lee is an Irish-Australian Doctoral Prize Fellow at Loughborough University London where he researches the meaning of social vitality for Rohingya refugees. In 2021 he was awarded the Early Career Emerging Scholar Prize by the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He was formerly a visiting scholar at Queen Mary University of London’s International State Crime Initiative. His research interests include Myanmar, the Rohingya, genocide, hate speech, and politics.

Roselyne Omondi is a conflict and peace expert and a skilled researcher-writer-editor with broad social science and humanities backgrounds. She is adept at working at the intersection of research, and policy; communication, journalism, and media; international development; and humanitarian action. While her recent work has focused on the greater Horn of Africa region, she has a good grasp of current affairs, and a global outlook. Her research interests span, inter alia, armed conflict, peace, forced migration, food insecurity, pastoralism, terrorism, geopolitics, climate change, and development. She has excellent project management, conflict mapping, media analysis skills, and strategic crisis communication skills. Different research, media, and international development entities have featured her work.

Roselyne holds Erasmus Mundus Master of Art degree in Journalism, Media and Globalization- War and Conflict Specialization (Denmark and United Kingdom); Erasmus Mundus Master of Arts degree in International Humanitarian Action – Comprehensive Security Specialization (the Netherlands); a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and English Language (Kenya); and several other post-graduate qualifications including: Peace and Conflict Research (University of Oslo and PRIO, Norway), Terrorism Theory and Practice (the Netherlands), Advanced Field Safety and Security (Germany and Kenya), and Advanced Grammar (the UK). She was, until recently (November 2022), the Associate Director, Research, at the HORN Institute, and is set to become the Associate Director, Center for Climate Change, Migration, and Development, at the Institute.

Saepudin Mashuriis an Associate Professor and dean for the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training at the State Islamic University of Datokarama Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. His studies focused on multicultural Islamic education, religious moderation, and cross-cultural studies. At his campus, he teaches bachelor, master, and doctoral students on multicultural religious education and moderate Islam studies. Collaborating with LeimenaInstituteInstitut, he educates cross-cultural religious literacy for religious teachers in Eastern Indonesia's elementary and junior-senior high schools. He is also a trainer for a religious moderation program to build religious harmony in Indonesia. He researches the development of peacebuilding in conflict areas such as Poso and multi-ethnic schools. He has published several research results related to his studies, such as Spiritual Base of Pesantren for Building Multicultural Awareness In Indonesia Context. Jurnal Ilmiah ISLAM FUTURA, Vol. 24. No. 1, February 2024, 1-20. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.22373/jiif.v24i1.17141. The building sustainable peace through multicultural religious education in the contemporary era of Poso, Indonesia. Cogent Education, 2024-12-31 DOI:10.1080/2331186X.2024.2389719

Dr. Saliba Sarsar is a Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University and President/CEO of the Jerusalem Peace Institute. His teaching and scholarly interests focus on the Middle East, Palestinian-Israeli affairs, Jerusalem, and peacebuilding. Among his authored books are Peacebuilding in Israeli-Palestinian Relations(2020) and Jerusalem: The Home in Our Hearts(2018). His edited books include The Holy Land Confederation as a Facilitator for the Two-State Solution (2022) and What Jerusalem Means to Us: Christian Perspectives and Reflections(2018). His most recent co-edited books are Democracy in Crisis Around the World (2020); Continuity and Change in Political Culture: Israel and Beyond (2020), and What Jerusalem Means to Us: Muslim Perspectives and Reflections(2021).

Dr. Sarsar is also a peace advocate and a public speaker. He is the co-Founder and President/ CEO of the Jerusalem Peace Institute, a non-profit that highlights Jerusalem as humanity’s shared gift as central for a just peace.