Preventing and Stopping Violence: Effective Actions to Curtail Conflict
Keynote Addresses, Tuesday, September 26
Paul Rogers: A Peaceful World by 2030
Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University, Honorary Fellow of the Joint Service Command and Staff College (JSCSC).
Paul Rogers trained originally as a biologist, lecturing at Imperial College and subsequently working as a plant pathologist in Uganda and Kenya on a regional crop research programme. After returning to the UK in 1970 he lectured first in environmental science before joining the Peace Studies programme at Bradford University in 1979 to work on environmental security and then peace research.
Paul has a long-term research interest in the changing drivers of international conflict, especially the connection between socio-economic divisions and global heating. He has written or edited thirty books including Losing Control: Global Security in the 21st Century (4th edition 2021) and Irregular War: The Threats from the Margins (2017) and his work has been translated into many languages including Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Farsi. He is a frequent broadcaster.
Kai Brand-Jacobsen: Charting a Path to Peace in the Midst of Escalating War & Militarisation
Kai Brand-Jacobsen, President & Director of the Department of Peace Operations of PATRIR, Romania
Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen is widely regarded as one of the leading pioneers, innovators, and practitioners in the field of peacebuilding, prevention of violent conflicts, mediation and peace processes, and addressing challenging and complex crisis in the world today. For more than 25 years he has worked across all continents and many of the most challenging war zones and crisis situations at the invitation of the United Nations, governments, international agencies and organizations, and local communities affected by conflict and war. He is a senior trainer for the International Peace and Development Training Centre (IPDTC) and has provided more than 400 training and Executive Leadership Programmes for governments, UN missions and agencies, and organizations in the field.
Selected Testimonials:
“Kai Brand-Jacobsen is one of the leading people in the world working to mediate conflicts and assist in peaceful resolution of conflicts in many areas which could have become major wars.” David Hartsough, Co-Founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, Director of PEACEWORKERS
“During the last 10 years I have had the opportunity to cooperate with Kai Brand-Jacobsen in several projects in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and others, promoting peace strategic engagements, research and trainings in one of the most challenging and violent conflicts in the world. After all those years I can say that Kai is not only one of the most charismatic trainers I have met, with a deep knowledge of applied peacebuilding, he is also a person with the ability to remind us all that we have the power to promote change in our bones.” Luca Gervasoni, Director of NOVACT – International Institute for Nonviolent Conflict.
Irvin Waller: Science and Secrets of Ending Violent Crime
Irvin Waller, Professor, Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa; Author
Irvin Waller is Professor Emeritus in 2018 at university of Ottawa, He has traveled the world to over fifty countries over fifty years giving keynote speeches and advising governments, NGOs, and international agencies on using science, comparative knowledge, and reason to end violent crime. He has advised the World Health Organization, Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank. He is a popular public speaker in English, French or Spanish. His MA and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge are in economics and criminology. Irvin Waller´s new book on Science and Secrets of Ending Violent Crime shares what has cut rates of violent crime by 50%, what applies that knowledge successfully to cities, and what are secrets to get government buy in. ¨It always seems impossible until it is done¨. Order at https://amzn.to/2HylS2N
Moderated by Evelyn Voigt is a Board Director of Civilian Peace Service Canada (CPSC), Peace and Conflict Studies Association (PACS-Can) and the Global Alliance of Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (GAMIP). Evelyn was born a prisoner of war in Africa. This has shaped both her career in international development and elevated her respect for those active in the peace field. Evelyn is the recipient of a Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal for her contribution to international development (2002). A poet, spoken word artist (two CDs) she has, amongst others, co-compiled 150 Canadian Stories of Peace, an anthology, and authored Flying Snakes and Green Turtles, informally accompanying Tanzania through recent history.
Panel Sessions, Wednesday, September 27
Northern Ireland – A Successful Peace Story
Sean Byrne is a professor and the founding head of the graduate Program in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba (2006-2014). He was the founding director of the affiliated Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice at St. Paul’s College of the University (2003–2018). His recent publications include Local Knowledge, Wisdom, and Practices: Civil Society Peacebuilding, and Economic Assistance in Northern Ireland (Routledge, 2023). He co-edited Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding and Ethnic Conflicts (2022) and the Routledge Companion to Peace and Conflict Studies (2020) with Thomas Matyók, Imani Scott, and Jessica Senehi. He received a teaching award from the University of Manitoba’s Graduate Student Association (2022); and a Teaching Award Certificate (2018), Outreach Award (2017), and the Faculty of Graduate Studies Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring (2017) from the University of Manitoba. Sean Byrne was born and raised in Ireland.
John McGarry is Samuel Gyimah Distinguished University Professor, Department of Political Studies, Queen’s University (Canada). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is the author and editor of several books, including Power-Sharing: Empirical and Normative Challenges (Routledge 2017), co-edited with Allison McCulloch. McGarry works on both the theory and practice of ethnic conflict resolution, specifically on the merits of power-sharing and territorial autonomy. He served in 2008-09 as the UN’s first Senior Advisor on Power-Sharing and has worked since as Senior Advisor on Governance and Power-Sharing to the UN-mediated negotiations in Cyprus.
Moderated by Gillian (Jill) Carr-Harris, peacebuilder. Jill has spent a large part of her life in India working with marginalized communities on nonviolence and peace. Deeply influenced by Gandhi’s methods of peace with justice, she participated with her partner, Rajagopal P.V. in many actions that facilitated government support to landless and displaced people (mainly indigenous communities), in increasing their access to, and control over, land and livelihood resources. In her various capacities, Jill highlighted the importance of land rights for the empowerment of women and that women’s leadership development at the grassroots level was critical to resolving social conflict and creating the conditions for sustainable development and peace. (See www.ektaparishad.in.)
In 2019 – 2020 Jill was one of the leaders in the Jai Jagat cross-continental march from New Delhi to Geneva over the course of one year, with the aim of carrying out a social action that applied Gandhi’s nonviolence strategies to poverty alleviation (in line with the SDGs) and also to issues of violence (war) and the climate crisis. (See www.jaijagatinternational.com.)
With an interest to bring this experience to Canada, Jill completed a Master’s Degree with a dissertation on Nonviolent Social Movements at St. Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia (2012), and a PhD on Nonviolent Leadership at OISE, University of Toronto (2021). Her unflagging interest of informing through practice how nonviolent strategies can address deep inequities and social conflicts, is her way of learning and practicing peacebuilding.
Colombia: Successes in a Challenging Environment
César Jaramillo is the Executive Director at Project Ploughshares. His focus areas include nuclear disarmament, the protection of civilians in armed conflict, emerging military technologies and conventional weapons controls. As an international civil society representative Cesar has addressed, among others, the UN General Assembly First Committee, the Conference on Disarmament, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, as well as states parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to the Arms Trade Treaty. He has given guest lectures and presentations at academic institutions such as New York University, the National Law University in New Delhi, the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, and the University of Toronto. Cesar graduated from the University of Waterloo with an MA in global governance and has bachelor’s degrees in honours political science and in journalism. Prior to joining Project Ploughshares, he held a fellowship at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
Luis Bernardo Díaz Gamboa, current and former Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences of the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, UPTC, was recently honoured with admission as a member to the Boyacense Academy of History, an entity that is 118 years old.
Díaz Gamboa is a Post-Doctor in Law from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, a Doctor of Law from the Complutense University of Madrid, a specialist in Administrative Law from the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, and a lawyer from the National University of Colombia. Among his numerous other notable accomplishments are:
- President of the Academic Union Association of Professors of the UPTC ASOACADÉMICA, an independent union that has achieved important victories
- Director of Meditango for 20 years in UPTC Radio (Saturdays from 9 to 11 p.m.)
- Director of the Primo Levi Social Justice Research Group (ranked A in Minciencias)
- Director of the Orlando Fals Borda Human Rights Observatory
- Director of the Master in Human Rights of the UPTC (Tunja and Bogota)
- Editor of the Law and Reality Magazine, with 900 thousand visits in 2021
- Author of numerous books and articles on socio-legal issues
- Member of the Observatory of the Right to Food ODA, which in alliance with FAO defends the food sovereignty of peoples
- Member of the American Association of Jurists AAJ, with consultative status at the UN
- Professor at the most prestigious universities in Colombia and lecturer in other universities around the world in Europe and America
Hon. Senator Sandra Ramírez Lobo Silva – Elected to the Senate of Colombia for the Commons party in 2018: former combatant in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
Dr. Alicia Cabezudo – Professor Emeritus at the School of Education UNR – Universidad National de Rosario and the UNESCO Chair on Culture of Peace and Human Rights of the National University of Buenos Aires
Addressing the Roots of Conflict in Africa
Dr. Isaac ‘Asume’ Osuoka coordinates Social Action International, an organisation promoting resource democracy and the human rights and livelihoods of marginalised communities in West and Central Africa. Osuoka previously served as Coordinator of Oilwatch Africa, a network supporting communities impacted by the petroleum industry in the continent. He has participated in several international conferences and has been a panelist at the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on the Use of Non-Renewable Resource Revenues for Sustainable Local Development. Osuoka holds a doctorate in Environmental Studies and has taught at York University and Carleton University in Canada.
Lina Aburas Awadalla (she/her) is a Ph.D. Candidate in International Development at the University of Ottawa. Her research explores the intersectionality of climate change and conflict in Nigeria, which is affected by three different types of armed conflict and climate change. Relying on a feminist and post-colonial theoretical approach, the research focuses on three aspects of the climate-conflict nexus, looking into the complexity of the climate-conflict nexus, knowledge construction (by challenging a Western-centric approach that has little to no input from the local population), and the challenge in data collection in areas affected by both armed conflict and climate change.
Prior to starting her Ph.D. Lina has been working since 2017 as a delegate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in conflict-affected areas in Palestine and Israel, Iraq, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Syria, and brings her professional experience into her academic research.
Panel Sessions, Thursday, September 28
The Faith Factor: Positive Intervention or Perilous Intrusion
Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D., is President/Founder of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation, President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, and Chair of the Anti-Racism Initiative and the Gender Equality Working Group of the G20 Interfaith Forum. She is the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the UN, a UN Representative for the URI, a member of the Advisory Council of the Global Security Institute, and a Board member of the International Center for Religion and Democracy. She has been listed in Who’s Who of American Law, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who In the World, and Prominent People of Hawaii. She was enstooled into the royal family of Ajiyamanti, Ghana as the Nekoso Hemaa (Queen Mother of Development) where a school she helped to build, the Nana Ode Anyankobea Junior Secondary School, is named after her.
Dr. Peter Petkoff is the Director of Religion, Law, and International Relations Programme at Regents Park College, Oxford and Brunel Law School, UK. He has studied law and theology in Sofia, Leeds, Oxford and Rome and his research interests are in the area of law and religion, EC Law, Intellectual Property and Comparative and International Law. His academic appointments include working on research projects at Oxford University (European Company Law and Arms Exports), Exeter University (Comparative European Family Law) and Bristol University (Changing Nature of Religious Rights Under International Law), a visiting fellowship at the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law and the Leopold-Wenger-Institute for Legal History at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and teaching positions at Bristol, Oxford and Buckingham. He has taught EU Law, International law and Intellectual Property, Canon law and Islamic Law. Dr. Petkoff is an honorary fellow of the Centre for the Study of Law and Religion at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, a Secretary of the Oxford Society for Law and Religion and a convener of the Oxford Colloquium for Law and Religion, a board member of the academic think-tank “Focus on Freedom of Religion or Belief” which studies the dynamics of freedom of religion or belief discourse within the context of the international institutions. Dr. Petkoff is also a board member of the research network “Church, Law and Society of the Middle Ages” and a convener of Eastern Canon Law panels at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. He is currently engaged in research projects which study the coexistence of civic and religious legal systems on national, regional, and international level and the formation of Christian, Jewish and Islamic legal harmonisations in the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. He is the Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion.
Rabbi Kliel Rose is the Spiritual Leader of Congregation Etz Chayim in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a senior rabbinical student, Rabbi Kliel (as he prefers to be known as) received the prestigious Rabbi Marshal T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellowship at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York. He was ordained in 2004. In 2014, Kliel was given the Rabbinical Human Rights Hero award by T’ruah: the rabbinic call for justice. Kliel was recognized for his involvement in interfaith justice work. Kliel was just recently appointed to serve on the Mayor’s “Multifaith & Cultural Liaison Circle”.
Edward Channer is the Conflict and Social Cohesion Advisor at Islamic Relief Worldwide, supporting the mainstreaming of conflict sensitivity and the application of social cohesion principles and programming across the organisation. Prior to this, his career in development and peacebuilding involved managing processes of conflict resolution and political dialogue within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, supporting political dialogue in Egypt and Tunisia following the revolutions of 2010/2011, and developing grassroots social cohesion projects in South East Asia. He has also managed programmes in education research and institutional capacity development in government ministries across sub-Saharan Africa. He has a Masters degree in International Relations and is studying for a Ph.D. in political science, focusing on religious Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in conflict management and conflict transformation.
Moderated by The Rev. Dr. Karen A. Hamilton is the former General Secretary of The Canadian Council of Churches, having served 15 years in that national and international role. The CCC is the broadest and most diverse ecumenical council in the world, representing 85% of the Christians in Canada, and includes 26 member denominations and its peace and disarmament operating division Project Ploughshares. During her tenure at the CCC, Dr. Hamilton built a 47-member interfaith, justice, academic, and NGO coalition that hosted the 2010 Interfaith Leaders’ Summit to challenge and inspire the G8 and G20 on justice issues. That coalition was awarded a global prize for ‘Best Practices in Interfaith Dialogue’. She is the founding chair of the Canadian Interfaith Conversation and the Our Whole Society Conference and has received national awards for ecumenical and interfaith justice leadership, all of the above roles requiring extensive and varied organizational skills as well as the supervision of a diverse staff and volunteer student team.
Her award-winning book, The Acceptable Year of The Lord: Preaching the Old Testament with Faith, Finesse and Fervour was published by Novalis as were her books, Living with the Old Testament and Living with the Psalms. Her newest interfaith social justice book, Faith As Protest: Answering the Call to Mend the World, published in March 2023 is available from Novalis.
She has travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including Afghanistan, Syria, and Al-Andalusia, and has led groundbreaking three faiths study tours to Israel and Palestine for over a decade. She has a leading, teaching role in a unique three faiths study course based in Jerusalem.
Since 2016 she has had the privilege of concretely supporting Syrian Refugees in Canada and her nine languages, at various levels of proficiency, include English, French, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, German, Latin, Greek and Ojibway.
She has served the secular international justice World Federalist Movement for over 20 years as Canadian national chair and a member of the international executive and is currently the national President. She also serves on a number of charitable and non-profit boards including that of Project Rozana, a national and international organization building relationships and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians through healthcare.
In 2018, Dr. Hamilton co-chaired The Parliament of the World’s Religions Toronto Board, a global interfaith gathering of 8000 participants and continues to write and speak nationally and internationally on issues of justice, interfaith dialogue and religious leaders’ engagement domestically and in global theatres of conflict. She has acted as the media point person in a wide variety of contexts and has deep experience in both consensus and parliamentary procedure methods of governance.
Beyond Fragile Ground: New Peacebuilding Architectures for Today and the Future: Findings from PeaceCon2023
Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik Jessica is a field-wide leader with extensive research and peacebuilding experience who has published several ground-breaking reports that bridge the gap between organizational-relevant research and sector-wide learning. She is a design, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (DMEL) specialist and economist with 12+ years’ of experience in academia and practical application in international development, humanitarian affairs, and peacebuilding. She has over 7 years of field-based experience living and conducting research abroad in rural, conflict-affected, and transitional communities.
Jessica works on improving capacity and understanding within the peacebuilding field on monitoring, evaluation, and impact tools and analysis in conflict-affected settings. She specializes in creating usable, innovative data capture and M&E systems in fragile areas. She applies multiple techniques and theories from a range of disciplines to find creative solutions to tackle DM&E in complex settings.
Her professional experience includes leading and participating in multinational teams, organizational change management, innovative programming, and program cycle implementation in rapidly evolving contexts. She has acted as lead program manager for DM&E activities, project design and implementation, impact evaluations, and RCT’s on several World Bank, UN, and NGO projects. She has led research endeavors involving violence reduction, preventing/countering violent extremism, inter-religious peacebuilding, learning and adaptive management, research ethics, economic empowerment, SBCC and mass media, MenEngage and SGBV, family planning, gender and entrepreneurship, gender and macroeconomic planning, maternal and infant health, ECD, and cross-sector gender involvement in male-dominated industries.
Jessica is fluent in French and proficient in Spanish. She holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies and Foreign Languages from Juniata College and an MS in Economics from the University of San Francisco.
Jessica currently resides in York, PA with her husband and much-beloved cat, Noe, where she enjoys doing family pilates, working in her stained glass studio, and reading extensively from her vast science fiction, fantasy, and history collection.
Liz Hume, Executive Director, Alliance for Peacebuilding
Elizabeth (Liz) Hume is the Executive Director at the Alliance for Peacebuilding. She is an international lawyer and a conflict expert with more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership positions in bilateral, multilateral institutions and NGOs. She has extensive experience in policy and advocacy and overseeing sizeable and complex peacebuilding programs in conflict-affected and fragile states in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
From 1997-2001, Liz was seconded by the US Department of State to the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo as the Chief Legal Counsel and Head of the Election Commission Secretariats. In these positions, she was responsible for developing the legal framework and policies in support of the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords and UN Resolution 1244. After 9/11, Liz worked for the International Rescue Committee in Pakistan and Afghanistan where she established and managed the Protection Department for Afghan refugees and returning IDPs. Starting in 2004, she served in leadership positions and helped establish the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation at USAID developing programs and policies to improve the USG’s ability to address the causes of violent deadly conflict. In 2007, Liz was the Chief of Party for Pact where she managed a USAID funded conflict resolution and governance program in Ethiopia. She also served as a Technical Director at FHI 360 where she managed a USAID funded peacebuilding and governance program in Senegal with a focus on the Casamance one of Africa’s longest-running civil wars.
Liz is also an experienced mediator, and she is a frequent guest lecturer and author on conflict analysis and peacebuilding in conflict-affected and fragile states.
Liz holds a BA from Boston College, a JD from Vermont Law School, and a MA in Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She lives in Falls Church City, VA with her husband in a much cleaner and quieter house since their twin girls went to University.
Megan Corrado, Director – Policy & Advocacy, Alliance for Peacebuilding
Megan E. Corrado is an international lawyer and policy practitioner working to promote human rights, peacebuilding, gender mainstreaming, transitional justice, and post-conflict legal and governance reform. She has extensive experience in international development, grant implementation, advocacy, and political campaign management. Megan has worked on democracy- and peacebuilding programs and processes in conflict-affected and post-conflict states across the Middle East and North Africa region, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Before joining the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Megan served as the Director of Advocacy with Women for Afghan Women, as well as an attorney with Cohen, Milstein, Sellers, and Toll and Counsel and Program Director with the Public International Law and Policy Group. In addition, Megan worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of the General Counsel, United States (US) Department of Defense; the US House of Representatives; and the British House of Commons.
She currently serves as Co-Chair of the US Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security, as well as Vice President for Global Affairs with the Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues and a member of the Global Gender Coalitions’ Co-Chairs Working Group.
Megan earned her JD, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from American University Washington College of Law; BA, summa cum laude, in Political Science and English from the University of Rhode Island; and studied public policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science and international law at the Asser Institute in The Hague. Proudly born and raised in New Jersey, Megan currently resides in Old Town Alexandria with her husband and yellow labrador, Pasqualle, and can often be found running, hiking, and, stereotypically, listening to Bruce Springsteen.
Moderator: Sylvie Lemieux is the Co-Chair, Canadian Network for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. Sylvie is a retired Lieutenant-Colonel Army Engineer and a retired executive from the Public Service of Canada. She has served across Canada and has participated in a UN humanitarian mission in Pakistan as a teacher for mine awareness to support Afghans’ repatriation. Upon her retirement, she completed a masters in Globalization and International Development at the University of Ottawa and a doctorate in Conflict Studies at Saint-Paul University. Her thesis was centered on the process of global treaties through the lenses of the Ottawa Treaty.
Sylvie has represented the Green Party of Canada in 2008 and 2011 as the candidate for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.
She enjoyed participating in World Social Forums (Tunisia 2013, Sarajevo–Peace in 2014 and Montreal in 2016) and other civic public spheres (Canadian People Forum in 2014 and COP21 in 2015).
While she remains a strong environmentalist, her activism efforts are now focused on peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. She is co-chair for CNANW, a board member of G78, CPRA and IPB, and a member of Pugwash.
Health and Peacebuilding: Lessons from the Field
Neil Arya (BASc MD CCFP FCFP DLitt) is a family physician in Kitchener Ontario. He is the President of PEGASUS Institute and PEGASUS Global Health Conference. He is a Fellow at the Balsillie School for International Affairs and Adjunct Professor in Health Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University where he was and Scholar in Residence from 2018-2020. He remains Assistant Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at McMaster University (part-time) and Adjunct Professor in Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo. He is a past Vice-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize and President of Physicians for Global Survival (PGS). He was the president of the Canadian Physicians for Research and Education in Peace (CPREP), which is now IPPNW Canada and has written and lectured around the world about Peace through Health. He was the founding Director of the Global Health Office at Western University. In 2011 Dr. Arya received a D. Litt. (Honorary) from Wilfrid Laurier University and the mid-Career Award in International Health from the American Public Health Association.
Barry S. Levy is a physician and epidemiologist who has written and spoken for many years about the impact of armed conflict on health, human rights, and the environment. He is the author of the recently published book “From Horror to Hope: Recognizing and Preventing the Health Impacts of War,” editor of several other books on this and related subjects, and author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. His writings on the war in Ukraine have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and elsewhere and he has spoken at the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, major universities, and other venues. He is an Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Tufts University School of Medicine and a past president of the American Public Health Association.
Kaveh Khoshnood is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Yale School of Public Health and executive committee member at Yale Council on Middle East Studies. He is co-founder of Yale Violence and Health Study Group and a faculty member of the Program on Conflict, Resiliency and Health at the Yale MacMillan Center. Dr. Khoshnood is trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist and has more than three decades of domestic and international experience in HIV prevention research among people who use drugs and other at-risk populations. Dr. Khoshnood’s research interests include: 1) epidemiology and prevention of HIV/AIDS, 2) research ethics and 3) humanitarian health. His projects are primarily in China, Lebanon and Bhutan. Dr. Khoshnood is teaching a new course on humanitarian health in January 2022.
Friederike Bubenzer is an independent South African peacebuilding practitioner with over 15 years’ experience in developing and delivering peacebuilding and transitional interventions across the African continent with a focus on South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana. Her research and advocacy focus is on the interconnectedness and integration of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and peace building. The hypothesis underlying this work is that communities are likely to continue to be caught in cycles of direct and structural violence unless peacebuilding processes are integrated into MHPSS and vice versa. She is currently working as a consultant with WHO and UNDP.
Panel Sessions, Thursday, September 28
The Future of UN Peacebuilding – a New Vision: Preventing and Fighting Fires
Robert Berg is a member of the Academic Council of the United Nations. He was named senior advisor to UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa. He has served on some 30 non-profit boards including three associated with higher education, been associated with two think tanks (currently Distinguished Fellow of the Stimson Center, Washington DC), and in his early career was with USAID where he founded its evaluation work and was founding chair of the OECD/DAC evaluation committee. For the past 15 years, he has worked on peace issues, as chair of the 185-member Alliance for Peacebuilding and as current chair of Plan for Peace, London.
Richard Ponzio is Director of the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program and a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Centre, Washington, D.C. Previously, he directed the Global Governance Program at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, where (in a partnership with Stimson) he served as Director for the Albright-Gambari Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance. He brings expertise in the areas of global and national democratic institution-building, global political economy, South-Central Asia, and the role of international institutions in responding to state fragility, climate instability, global financial volatility, and population displacement.
Ponzio is formerly a Senior Adviser in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he conceptualized and coordinated Secretary Hillary Clinton’s and later John Kerry’s New Silk Road initiative. Earlier he served as a Senior Strategy and Policy Officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, where he initiated a global network of multi/bilateral peacebuilding and stabilization organizations.
From 1999-2009, Ponzio served in a variety of senior policy and strategic planning positions for the United Nations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, and New York. From 1997-1999, he was a Visiting Fulbright Fellow at the Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre in Islamabad, where his research focused on the governance-security-development nexus in South Asia.
Ponzio has published widely in academic and policy journals.
Moderator: Sylvie Lemieux is the Co-Chair, Canadian Network for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. Sylvie is a retired Lieutenant-Colonel Army Engineer and a retired executive from the Public Service of Canada. She has served across Canada and has participated in a UN humanitarian mission in Pakistan as a teacher for mine awareness to support Afghans’ repatriation. Upon her retirement, she completed a Masters in Globalization and International Development at the University of Ottawa and a Doctorate in Conflict Studies at Saint-Paul University. Her thesis was centered on the process of global treaties through the lens of the Ottawa Treaty.
Sylvie has represented the Green Party of Canada in 2008 and 2011 as the candidate for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.
She enjoyed participating in World Social Forums (Tunisia 2013, Sarajevo–Peace in 2014 and Montreal in 2016) and other civic public spheres (Canadian People Forum in 2014 and COP21 in 2015).
While she remains a strong environmentalist, her activism efforts are now focused on peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. She is co-chair for CNANW, a board member of G78, CPRA, and IPB, and a member of Pugwash.
Peace Professionalism: The Time Has Come
Dr. Philip Onguny is Associate Professor of conflict studies and co-director of the School of Conflict Studies at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. His research focuses on political violence, ethnic conflicts, and peacebuilding in Africa’s Great Lakes region. He is also interested in the politics of international development and humanitarianism, and the role of media in conflict transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. His work has appeared in both academic and policy journals such as the Canadian Journal of African Studies, Global Change, Conflict & Security, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Peace & Change Journal, The East African Review, and Africa Policy Journal. He also co-edited La Lutte Contre le Terrorisme en Afrique (University of Montreal Press, 2019).
Philip is currently the PI for a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant project (2023-2026) that seeks to develop and test a system of assessment for peace professionals to increase capacity response in conflict-affected areas. The project brings together a group of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from Canada, USA, Kenya, Colombia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. His previous research on the politics of land ownership and ethnopolitical violence in sub-Saharan Africa was also funded by SSHRC through the Insight Development Grant (2017-2019).
Philip has been a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow at the Tangaza University College (Nairobi, Kenya) where he co-developed the curriculum for a BA program in peace and security studies. He has served as the director of the Conflict Research Centre (CRC) at Saint Paul University, and a board member of the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution (CICR).
Dr. Nathan Funk is an Associate Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies, Conrad Grebel University College. Dr. Funk has served on the boards of two Canadian NGOs, Project Ploughshares and Peacebuild: The Canadian Peacebuilding Network, and currently acts as a board member for the Peace and Conflict Studies Association of Canada. He has authored a number of writings on peacebuilding and international conflict resolution, with a special focus on the contemporary Middle East, Islamic-Western relations, identity conflict, sustained dialogue, and the role of cultural and religious factors in localized peacebuilding and social change processes.
Evelyn Voigt is a Board Director of Civilian Peace Service Canada (CPSC), Peace and Conflict Studies Association (PACS-Can) and the Global Alliance of Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (GAMIP). Evelyn was born a prisoner of war in Africa. This has shaped both her career in international development and elevated her respect for those active in the peace field. Evelyn is the recipient of a Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal for her contribution to international development (2002). A poet, spoken word artist (two CDs) she has, amongst others, co-compiled 150 Canadian Stories of Peace, an anthology, and authored Flying Snakes and Green Turtles, informally accompanying Tanzania through recent history.
Kai Brand-Jacobsen, President & Director of the Department of Peace Operations of PATRIR, Romania will join the conversation about being a Peace Professional as a discussant.
Moderated by Adrian Harewood is Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University. Adrian joined Carleton’s School of Journalism and Communication in 2021. He completed a BA in Political Theory & History at McGill University and a MA in History at Carleton University.
Adrian has been a journalist for over a quarter century. He was the host of CBC Ottawa’s drive home radio show All in a Day for 3 years, and then the anchor of CBC Ottawa News at Six for 13 years. In 2017 he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Interviewer, and in 2020 he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local Anchor. For 7 years Adrian hosted the CBC weekly cultural magazine show Our Ottawa.
Adrian has been the guest host of national programs on radio and television including The Current, As It Happens, Sounds Like Canada and The House, Counterspin, Hot Type, and Power & Politics. He has hosted local and regional programs including Metro Morning and Ontario Morning and appeared on or hosted national shows like Spin Off and The Arts Tonight. Adrian was the host of a series of programs on BRAVO and PBS including Literati, The Actors, The Directors, Playwrights & Screenwriters. Adrian was also the host of CBC Radio’s 2010 FIFA World Cup Show.
He has interviewed Angela Davis, Salman Rushdie, Eduardo Galeano, Bill Clinton, Wayne Shorter, Bob Woodward, Gustavo Dudamel, Sarah Chang, Deepa Mehta, Hugh Masekela, Cassandra Wilson, Willie O’Ree, Tomson Highway, Tony Benn, Azar Nafisi, Naomi Klein, Ken Dryden, k-os, Alanis Obomsawin, Joy Kogawa, Jan Carew, David Sedaris, Jack Layton, Oliver Jones, Steven Pinker, Wanda Robson, Lawrence Hill, Barbara Gowdy, Hans Kung, Austin Clarke, Jim Cuddy, Frank Oz, Preston Manning, Andrea Levy, Branford Marsalis, Margaret Macmillan, Bob Moses, Ken Burns, David Suzuki, Esi Edugyan, Al Green, Malcolm Gladwell, Chris Hedges, Femi Kuti, Tariq Ali, Adrienne Clarkson, Chuck Klosterman, Mary Walsh, Romeo Dallaire, Wade Davis, Measha Brueggergosman, Tom Green, Dick Gregory, Niall Ferguson, Richie Havens, Lyle Lovett, John Irving, Dionne Brand, Conrad Black and Donald Trump.
His writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Canadian Dimension, Take One Magazine, NOW Magazine, Mix Magazine, The Halifax Chronicle Herald, and Z Magazine.
Adrian has a long history working in campus/community radio. He was the station manager of CKUT-Radio McGill and has been a programmer at CHUO-University of Ottawa, CKCU-Radio Carleton and the former CKLN 88.1FM at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Adrian’s academic interests include the History of Black Canadian Journalism, the History of the Black American Press, the US Civil Rights Movement, Community Radio, Sports Journalism, Journalism in Community Building and Development, Journalism in Carceral Spaces and Human Rights Journalism.
Adrian created the Carleton Journalism School’s first-ever course focused on race, a graduate seminar called Journalism, Race and Diversity. He also created the first course in Canada devoted to the study of the History of Black Canadian Journalism. He teaches the Video Journalism course and the fourth-year course Journalism Now and Next.
Adrian is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Canadian Association of Black Journalists, and the National Association of Black Journalists. He sits on the editorial board of the University of Ottawa Press and is a board member of Journalists for Human Rights.