EPI Trustee

Sarah is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), at The University of St Andrews. Her research examines the process, impact and response to different forms of political contention, including violent extremism, terrorism, protest and activism. Her work is increasingly focused on the gender dimensions of contentious politics. Sarah is an interdisciplinary researcher, she has studied Psychology (specialising in Forensic Psychology), Philosophy and English, and has a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews.

Sarah takes a participatory approach to her work. She engages with a wide range of stakeholders from government, arts bodies, charities, and community-led organisations. Her focus is on empowering communities to understand and develop responses to the challenges they face, to build capacity, strength and confidence. Sarah also has an interest in the role of arts and heritage in the response to violence and conflict, and the ways in which creative and participatory methods can help address social challenges.

Current projects include a body of work on violent extremism through the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats based at Lancaster University, and Remembering Resistance, a programme of research, events, and collaborations that looks at women’s activism and how these stories of resistance can inspire positive change.

EPI Trustee

Ed is the Outreach Coordinator for the Edinburgh Peace Institute and Research Analyst. A recent graduate of the Masters in International Relations program at Leiden University. He has also earned a higher Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Birmingham. His area of research focuses on contemporary conflict, mass violence and terrorism in the Middle East and South East Asia.

Edward is an alumnus of the International Studies Student Association, Birmingham University Officer Training Corps and Project Trust. Alongside his studies, he has also worked and volunteered in the charities sector. His current projects include writing an article for Era Magazine “What is History and why doe Historiography matter?”, and he is co-writing an article for EPI on “Mediating Myanmar” (Thomson & Ives),. He is currently learning Arabic.

Hana joins EPI as a research associate, she is also the primary facilitator to assist EPI in gaining Charitable status from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to function in the West Bank. Awarded her MA in Jerusalem Studies from Al-Quds University. She also received a TOT certificate from the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Netherlands.

Hana conducts training for youth and women on leadership, conflict resolution, communication, and gender, with a focus on the challenges Palestinian Christian women face due to the political and economic situation.

Hana was the Middle East Representative for the Women Peace Program Working Group (WPPWG) in the Netherlands, and she contributed to a book ,entitled; “A Force Such as the World Has Never Known: Women Creating Change” (2013) with a chapter on “Advocating Women’s Rights in Palestine.” She also presented a paper titled “The Portrayal of Identity in the Palestinian Narrative” in The Cyprus, Center for Intercultural Studies, University of Nicosia in Cyprus on May 9, 2014.

Hana Attended the CEDAW 70th Session Plenary at the United Nations, Geneva on July 11, 2018.

Recent work includes researching religious identity and coexistence in the Centre of Excellence for Reason and Religious Recognition, and writing about Islamic and Christian traditions and their impact on constitutional arrangements with the Academy of Finland project, “Political Power in Early Modern Europe and Islam.”

Director of Mediation Development

Judith joins EPI as the ‘Director of Mediation Training’ assisting our core mediation portfolio, as we implement this on the ground, at societal, humanitarian, and government/diplomatic levels.

As a certified mediator, having facilitated several conflict transformation processes of opposing groups in conflict, she brings a wealth of experience to the team. Judith previously engaged extensively as an independent expert in international mediation, dialogue facilitation, and peace building, providing training and advisory work in negotiation and mediation processes. In light of this, Judith is broadening the field on negotiations and mediation, through trauma-informed care and embodied transformation, as a critical implementation for todays peacekeeping, humanitarian, and security spaces.

Judith was also senior policy advisor on conflict prevention at the Dutch ministry of Defence with a focus on Africa, and senior fellow at the Clingendael Institute for International Relations. In this latter position Judith designed and provided training courses for (foreign) diplomats and groups in conflict, covering international negotiation, peace mediation, and intercultural communication. She started her career as a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, College of Social Sciences and the Department of Conflict Studies (2009-2015). Here she taught courses on Foundations of Social Theory, Social Inequality, and Conflict Resolution, as program manager of the International Dialogue Program, Soliya.

She holds a M.Sc. in Conflict Resolution and Governance (Political Science) and a BA in Cultural Anthropology, with a specialization in Middle Eastern Studies, Religion and Conflict. Judith has studied and lived in Israel/Palestine (1996-1997 / 2010) and Syria (2008 / 2009) and initiated several educational programs in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Research & Media Outreach

Jeremy is an international researcher and consultant with EPI, specialising in issues related to constitutionalism and the role of 'Political Theology' in institutions and civil society. His work focuses on marginalised thinkers and groups, where systems with previously ignored or suppressed instabilities can be made more sustainable, just, and inclusive for everyone. Jeremy is a trained political scientist and theorist, with a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews, and the author of The Concert of Civilizations (Routledge).

Recent work includes teaching Entrepreneurship and Social Media at Helsinki School of Business, researching religious identity and coexistence in the Centre of Excellence for Reason and Religious Recognition, and writing about Islamic and Christian traditions and their impact on constitutional arrangements with the Academy of Finland project, “Political Power in Early Modern Europe and Islam.”

EPI Board of Advisors

Catherine Bolten earned her PhD from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan in 2008. She has been working in Sierra Leone since 2003, focusing on issues of memory, poverty, morality, and post-war development. She also currently serves as director of doctoral studies for the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, where she is a core faculty member. Bolten’s first book I Did It to Save My Life: Love and Survival in Sierra Leone (2012) is part of the California Series in Public Anthropology (University of California Press). The book examines the moral frameworks by which people narrated and justified the choices they made to survive the war. Her second book, Serious Youth in Sierra Leone, was published by Oxford University Press in October 2019. The book examines the material practices of youth who, instead of wanting to overthrow a patronage system widely credited with fueling the war, instead yearn to belong to it. This bid to be taken “seriously” is misinterpreted by adults who feel threatened by young people’s facility with technology and the trappings of globalization, causing intergenerational friction. The book is based on field research conducted between 2006 and 2014.

Anzhela is a Research Lecturer at Yerevan State University. As a political researcher, her focus is on European Neighbourhood Policy, Eastern Partnerships, Russia, the EU, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Anzhela was awarded an Advanced Master's Degree of Arts, in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe in Natolin, and a Master's Degree in International Relations from Yerevan State University. She is a graduate of the SUSEES: Summer School in European Education Studies held at the Department of Social Sciences of the University Federico II.

Alongside her PhD studies, she has published several academic papers and research articles. Building upon her experience from various fields of work; including, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Armenia, and in the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia. Currently, she is Head of the Armenian branch of the “International Union of Young Scientists” INGO and a Council Member at the “Community Development and Legislative Reform Centre” NGO.

Anzhela also has an interest in empowering women in war-torn masculinised militaristic societies. She works to improve the way, women’s voices can be heard to advocate for peace in the region.

Marko joins EPI as a Research Analyst in International Peace Mediation. A recent graduate from the Advanced MSc in International Relations & Diplomacy at Leiden University and The Clingendael Institute, he also holds a BSc in Economics from The University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, North Macedonia. His research interests fall into the field of Conflict Management, and he is developing research in Leadership, Cooperation and Coordination in Multiparty Mediation, exploring the case of the 'Name Dispute' between North Macedonia and Greece. In 2019, he spent three months as a Visiting Research Associate to Dr. Siniša Vuković at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies - Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., U.S.A, where he worked on norm diffusion in International Peace Mediation.Item description

Susan obtained her PhD in Public Health and Policy, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and her Master’s of International Community Health, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She has carried out major mid-evaluations of the Welsh Government’s Substance Misuse Strategy 2010-2020. In 2016 she worked with Volunteer Hands International, on NGO Outbreak Control in the unofficial refugee/migrant camps Calais, France. She has been a Consultant with RedR UK on the Development of Humanitarian Mentoring Projects. In 2014 she was the Staff Health Manager, Save the Children International, for the Ebola Emergency Response Liberia. She was an International Consultant, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] ‘Mid-Term Evaluation of the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries 2011-2014,’ and team leader for the ‘Independent project cluster evaluation of the Drug Demand Reduction. With a number of awards for her humanitarian work, these include, Ebola Medal for Service in West Africa 2015, Honorary M.A. University of Strathclyde 1990, MBE 1987, Lord Provost’s Medal 1987, Scot of the Year 1987, Scotswoman of the Year 1987, UN Woman of the Year (joint award) 1987.

Dr Luke Abbs obtained his PhD from the University of Kent in 2017. He has expertise in quantitative methods, using data analytics to explore key policy questions related to (non)violent political conflict and peacebuilding, with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa. His work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Global Security Studies and Mobilization, and he has published a monograph with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Luke’s research is internationally recognised and is based on three streams that seek to understand how local actors use nonviolent approaches to navigate and resolve armed conflict. Firstly, exploring the impact nonviolent action has on civil war violence and peace processes. Secondly, understanding how civilians protect their local communities in regions on violence through unarmed civilian protection (also known as unarmed civilian peacekeeping). Thirdly, impact of faith-based mediation on communal violence and civil war peace processes. Luke has also conducted research on the relationship between food insecurity, inequality and conflict; the impact of armed militias on peace processes in Africa and the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping.

Luke has also engaged in multiple consultancies and commissioned research, most recently with UNICEF on identifying, monitoring and countering hate speech against migrants. He has also engaged in consultancies for the United Nations Operations Crisis Center (UNOCC), Conciliation Resources, the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). In his previous role at the University of Essex, he worked extensively with policy makers in local government, such as Essex County Council, Essex Police and the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit, using statistical methods and supervised machine learning prediction to support collaborative and evidence-based research projects.

Amanda is the “Wellbeing & Safeguarding Advisor” at EPI. She brings a wealth of life experience to the role. Her academic background started with a BA in Social Anthropology, from the University of Edinburgh. She developed her studies in social anthropology, with additional practitioner qualifications: MSC Gender in Society; University of Edinburgh; and an MSC in Pluralistic Counselling at the University of Abertay, Dundee.

Amanda now consults in private practice with a holistic approach to physical and mental well-being, including, naturopathy, and health coaching. As a voluntary counsellor, she carries out further research at Abertay in this field also, developing her approach to Pluralistic counselling, food as medicine, and the psychological impact of climate change.

FORMER DIPLOMAT – Amb. Joseph has served his country Rwanda as an ambassador, implementing mediation and negotiation interventions for Rwanda Peace & Security at The International Conference on The Great Lakes countries. As an ambassador of Rwanda, he has served in Washington, Addis Ababa and New York, and was later the Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Internal Security (1994-2008). Building on his experience Joseph went on to become the President of Rwanda's Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region (2008-2009) and the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Guinea Bissau (2009-2013), and Darfur for the UN and the AU (2013-2014). An experienced and talented mediator and negotiator, he has trained and practiced in the peacebuilding field in some of the most extreme conflicts the world has witnessed.

Eleanor is a senior lecturer within the Business School at the University of St Andrews and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, roles from which she will retire in the autumn of 2024.

She attended university as a mature student, graduating from the University of Strathclyde in 1989 with a BA Hons First Class. The award in 1991 from the same institution, of a John Anderson scholarship for doctoral study, culminated in the award, three years later, of a doctorate. This was followed by an appointment to a research assistantship, followed by a research fellowship, at Glasgow Caledonian University, where she was co-lead investigator on a two year study funded by the ESRC, as part of its Virtual Society? Programme.

In 2000, Eleanor was appointed to a lectureship with the University of St Andrews. Here, she developed and delivered undergraduate and postgraduate modules looking at the management of NGOs. Her research mainly focused upon the use of digital technologies, and information capture and flow, within the UK charitable sector. Collaborative endeavours with other academic colleagues and practitioners together with funding from bodies such as the ESRC, the Scottish Universities Insights Institute, and the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner brought to fruition a number of subsequent projects.

More recently, her teaching and research interests have shifted very considerably, to engage with the human - nonhuman animal relationship. Her focus, now, is the power imbalance within this relationship, and what needs to change for meaningful rights and the equitable treatment of nonhuman animals to be delivered and normalised within what are typically, currently, human-oriented and human-dominated cultures, behaviours, and institutions. In 2022, reflecting this new focus, Eleanor developed and delivered the new module, "Earth Matters: Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy, and the Re-imagining of Sustainability". Eleanor joins EPI as a Trustee, bringing her experience to our NGO as a whole, and our move towards Environmental Peace issues.