Peace News Expert Network

Thursica Kovinthan Levi is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. Her current research focuses on trauma-informed pedagogies for integration and reconciliation in refugee education. This research builds on her doctoral dissertation examining the interface between gender, education, and conflict in fragile contexts, focusing on Sri Lanka. She has worked and conducted research in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America with various NGOs and as a research consultant. Thursica is also an educator with the Toronto District School Board, where she teaches children with refugee experiences. She has worked as an Education Policy Analyst at Global Affairs Canada and Part-time Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa. Thursica holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Ottawa and a M.A in Child Studies and Education from OISE.

Tobias Ide is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Murdoch University Perth (Australia) and Specially Appointed Professor for Peace and Sustainability at Hiroshima University (Japan). He received most of his academic training Germany and published widely on the environment, climate, peace and conflict, including in International Security, Journal of Peace Research, and Nature Climate Change. Tobias also frequently works with and consults decision makers, including at the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO.

Ute Kollies is deployed in Mali for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and is the organizer of Mali Football for Peace.

Uzra Zeya is president and CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding. She has over two decades of diplomatic experience in Near East, Asian, European, human rights, and multilateral affairs.

Xavier Mathieu is a Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Liverpool (UK). His research focuses on post-colonial legacies in global politics, in particular as they impact past and current notions of sovereignty, international interventions, and identity/difference. His current project explores the way (post)colonial violence opens up spaces of resistance by disrupting the frontiers between ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Yoav Kapshuk is Senior Lecturer at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel; Head of Israel Studies Unit at the department of Multidisciplinary Studies. Former Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Center, and at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. Dr. Kapshuk focuses on peace research: peacebuilding, peace education, peacemaking and transitional justice, especially about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israelis and Palestinians relationships. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the Tel-Aviv University (2017). His studies have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Defence and Peace Economics, Israel Law Review, and Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.