Florence N. Mpaayei is a peace practitioner working with civil society globally to design strategies for peace interventions. She provides training to actors on dialogue and mediation with a special focus on women. Affiliated to Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations-Kenya (HIPSIR), Florence is a guest lecturer/facilitator on the MA in Peace Practice and leadership courses.

Prisca Kamungi is a peacebuilding scholar and practitioner. She works in the Kenyan National Steering Committee on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management in the Ministry of Interior and part-time at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi.

Vlad Corbu is Chief Programme Manager at the Dialogue Advisory Group (DAG). He joined DAG in early 2011, after finishing his MA in International Relations (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam. He was part of the DAG team working in the Basque Country from 2011 to 2017. He has been involved in DAG’s dialogues in Libya, the Great Lakes and Sri Lanka, among others, working with governments, armed groups and the United Nations on issues of disarmament, political understanding and reconciliation.

Ayak Chol Deng Alak is the Head of Research at the Strategic Defence and Security Review Board, an implementation mechanism of the revitalised South Sudan peace agreement. She is former deputy coordinator of the South Sudan Civil Society Forum, and co-founder of Anataban, a youth-led political movement. Ayak is a certified facilitator at the National Transformational Leadership Institute.

Michael Frank Alar is a consultant on conflict transformation, dialogue and peace processes. Currently he consults for the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict and Violence team in the Philippines and he has also consulted for the UNFPA on Youth, Peace and Security and worked on the Mindanao peace process. Michael holds an MA in International Peace Studies (Japan), an Advanced Specialist Degree in Peace and Development Studies (Spain), and a diploma in Islamic Studies and Interfaith Relations (India).

Irena Grizelj focuses on youth-inclusive peace and mediation processes. Irena has researched and consulted for multilateral and non-governmental institutions and co-authored the first UN global policy paper on youth participation in peace processes (We are Here). Irena has an MA in International Relations and Conflict Management from Johns Hopkins University and is undertaking an MA on Mediation in Peace Processes at the Centre for Security Studies in Zurich.

Adam H. Beek is an expert on conflict, human rights, and the Middle East and North Africa region, having focused on the Syrian civil war since its outbreak. He has worked on diplomatic negotiations, grassroots mobilisation, civil society empowerment and international peace interventions.

Aviva M. Stein specialises in the intersection between gender, democracy, violent extremism and human rights. With a particular interest in the Syrian civil war, rise of the Islamic State and emergence of new grassroots forms of democracy, the majority of her work has focused on diplomacy, development assistance and advocacy in Syria
specifically and the Middle East and North Africa more broadly.

Helena Puig Larrauri is Co-founder and Director of Build Up. She has been advising and working in conflict contexts and polarised environments for over a decade. She specialises in the integration of digital technology and innovation processes to civic initiatives and is an Ashoka Fellow.

Maude Morrison is Deputy Director of Build Up, an organisation that seeks to transform conflict in the digital age. She focuses on the role of social media in conflict, exploring opportunities for online spaces to both exacerbate and mitigate societal tensions. Previously, she was based in Myanmar addressing inter-communal conflict.