Scilla Elworthy (Phd)

Dr. Scilla Elworthy is a global peacebuilder and was three times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for developing effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics with the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organisation that she founded in 1982. Scilla Elworthy in 2002 co-founded Peace Direct, a leading international charity based in London to fund, promote and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas. Scilla was adviser to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Richard Branson in setting up ‘The Elders’, and was Awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003. She co-founded Rising Women Rising World in 2013, and FemmeQ in 2016 to establish the qualities of feminine intelligence – for men as for women – as essential for building a safer world. She is Ambassador for Peace Direct, Councillor of the World Future Council, patron of the Oxford Research Group; adviser to the Syria Campaign and the Institute for Economics and Peace. Today her full attention is on turning vision into action and developing The Business Plan for Peace, which resulted from her 2017 book The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War. Her TED talk on non-violence has been viewed by over 1.400.000 people.

H.E. Federico Mayor Zaragoza (Phd)

Prof. Federico Mayor is a politician, diplomat, scholar, social change activist and poet. He served as Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999, where he gave new momentum to the mission of the Organization to “building peace in the minds of men and women”. Guided by Mayor's leadership, UNESCO created the Culture of Peace Program as well as the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (1999). Among his various political responsibilities, Prof. Mayor was Minister of Education and Science (1981-82) and Member of the European Parliament (1987). He is President of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, which he founded in Madrid in 2000. Federico Mayor is President of the Council of the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD), established by the UN-University of Peace. He was appointed President and Chairman of several organizations, such as the European Research Council Expert Group (2002), the High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations (2005-2007), the Inter Press Service (2008), and the International Commission against Death Penalty (2010). He was core member of the Commission that advised and developed the Earth Charter, which presents fundamental principles for a just, sustainable and peaceful global society.

Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed lecturer, author, spiritual leader, politician and activist. In 1989 she founded Project Angel Food, a volunteer food delivery program that serves home-bound people with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses in the Los Angeles area. Marianne also co-founded the Peace Alliance, a non-profit education and advocacy organization supporting peace-building projects and campaigning for a US Department of Peacebuilding. The Peace Alliance empowers civic action toward a Culture of Peace and seeks to take the work of peacebuilding from the margins of society into the center of national discourse and policy priorities. Marianne Williamson produced and hosted four Sister Giant Conferences, facilitating the connection of thousands of women to progressive activism, conscious citizenship and political change. She serves on the Board of Directors of the RESULTS organization, working to end the worst ravages of hunger and poverty throughout the world and is Counsellor for the Center for Healing. In 2014, she ran for Congress in Los Angeles and came in 4th out of a field of 16. Marianne Williamson was also candidate for the Democratic nomination for the US Presidency of 2020.

James O’Dea (Phd)

James O’Dea is author, lecturer, activist, and mystics. He is the former Washington D.C. Director of Amnesty International, past President of the Institute of Noetic Science and former Executive Director of The Seva Foundation, an international health and development organization. James is Co- Director of The Social Healing Project funded by the Kalliopeia Foundation, assessing the convergence of societal healing initiatives around the world. He is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders group and lectures widely on emerging worldviews, and integral approaches to social transformation. He worked with the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut during a time of war and has taught peacebuilding to over a thousand students in 30 countries and conducted frontline social healing dialogues around the world. He is a member of The Evolutionary Leaders group and on the Advisory Board of The Peace Alliance and Kosmos Journal. He is Honorary Fellow of the Laszlo New Paradigm Institute and the author of ‘The Conscious Activist, Cultivating Peace, Soul Awakening Practice’ (June 2017) and other acclaimed works.

Zahira Kamal (Phd)

Zahira Kamal is activist and politician. She was the head of the Palestinian Democratic Union Party, and the first women to lead a Palestinian political party. She previously served as the Minister of Women Affairs in the Palestinian National Authority, and she was one of the three women to participate in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian territories during the 1990s. Zahira Kamal was also head of the Federation of Palestinian Women’s Action Committee of the Women’s Work Committee (WWC), which she co-founded in 1978. In addition to participating on the Palestinian negotiating team during peace talks with Israel, Zahiral was the General Director of the Directorate for Gender Planning and Development with the Palestinian Authority and served as the Coordinator of the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee. Currently, she serves on the boards of Jerusalem Link, a joint Israeli-Palestinian initiative, Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling, and the Jerusalem Center for Women.

Roberto Savio (Phd)

Roberto Savio is a journalist, communication expert, political commentator, activist for social and climate justice and advocate of global governance. He is the founder and President Emeritus of the Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, which he led for several years as Director-General. In 2012 Roberto Savio has been awarded the prestigious Hiroshima Peace Award, which is established by Soka Gakkai International, for his contribution towards the construction of peace by “giving voice to the voiceless” through IPS for nearly five decades. Since 1973, he has been a consultant on information and communication issues for many developing countries and working together with a variety of international organisations, such as UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, and UNICEF. Roberto is Secretary General Emeritus of the Society for International Development (SID), which he led for three terms. Amongst many positions, he was member of the International Council of the World Social Forum, and is Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a New Humanity, and Director of International Relations of the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD). He is the co-founder of Media Watch International as well as founder and President of the Internet service Othernews, which distributes daily analyses on international issues, particularly the themes of global governance and multilateralism.

Hendrik-Jan Laseur

Hendrik-Jan Laseur is economist and visionary. He is the founder of Laseur – Lead the Change, an Amsterdam-based strategy advisory firm focused on supporting leaders in achieving lasting social impact of investments and business propositions. His firm, Lead the Change, supports civil society organizations and business through strategy advice and leadership development workshops. Prior to founding Laseur in 2010, he was Principal Advisor of the Executive Director at UNICEF in New York. From 1992 to 2007, Hendrik-Jan Laseur worked at ABN Amro Bank in a variety of leadership and advisory positions, including roles as personal secretary to the Chairman of the bank, and as a member of the Executive Committee of ABN AMRO Switzerland. Hendrik-Jan is also a partner at sum people (Zurich), a leadership development boutique, and at Leaders’ Quest (London, Mumbai, New York), a social enterprise committed to improving the quality of leadership around the world through experiential programs. Additionally, he serves on various Boards, including the Adessium Foundation (Rotterdam) and SustainAbility (London). Previously, he was on the Board of the Center for Public Integrity (Washington, DC), ISA Pharmaceuticals (Leiden) and chairman of the Board of IUCN NL (Amsterdam).

Thomas Hübl

Thomas Hübl is a modern mystic and spiritual teacher with a profound understanding of collective and intergenerational trauma. He is the founder and director of the Academy of Inner Science, which combines mystical experience with new scientific discoveries from the leading edge of science. His work combines somatic awareness practices, advanced meditative practices, a sophisticated analysis of cultural architecture, and transformational processes that address trauma and shadow issues. His teachings aim to guide practitioners toward a deeper level of self-awareness—from an ego-centered worldview to a life of authentic expression, service, and alignment. A sought-after private advisor to social entrepreneurs, business leaders, government officials, and spiritual aspirants, Thomas is a regularly featured speaker at conferences and workshops worldwide. Through his German non-profit organization Sharing the Presence Association, he seeks to develop competencies to better face humanity’s global challenges. In 2017 he founded the non-profit Pocket Project with the mission to stop the vicious cycle of recurring collective trauma and ultimately integrating and reducing its disruptive effects in our global culture. In 2019 Thomas initiated an Online Summit on Collective Trauma that drew more than 50.000 participants from 176 countries around the world.

Michael Nagler (Phd)

Michael N. Nagler is is an academic, nonviolence educator, mentor, meditator, and peace activist. He is Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley, where he has taught since 1966, and where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. He is also the founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, which provides educational resources on the safe and effective use of nonviolence. He has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970's and spoken and written widely for campus, religious, public and special interest groups on the subject of peace and nonviolence. Michael Nagler served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and various other organizations and is President of the Board of Metta and of PeaceWorkers. He has recently co-founded Educators For Nonviolence.  In addition to his many articles on peace and spirituality, he is the author of ‘The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World’ and ‘The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action’. He is a student of Eknath Easwaran, who founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Marin County, California.

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