Organizing Committee

The Organizing Committee is responsible for making decisions on all aspects of the Conference.  It includes members from the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, the University of Ottawa and its partners, and the future hosts of the Fifth Conference (in Nairobi, Kenya).   

The Organizing Committee is supported by the Conference Secretariat, which includes Mara Pusic, Dylan Moglen, Natalia Jimenez, Carrie Hanks, and Buket Altincelep.

Erika Weinthal

Professor of Environmental and Public Policy
Duke University
Erika Weinthal is the John O. Blackburn Distinguished Professor of Environmental Policy at Duke University. She is Chair of the Environmental Social Systems Division in the Nicholas School of the Environment and a member of the Bass Society of Fellows. She was a prior Chair of Duke’s Academic Council. Weinthal is the President of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association and an associate editor of its journal, Environment and Security. In 2017 she was a recipient of the Women Peacebuilders for Water Award under the auspices of “Fondazione Milano per Expo 2015.” Recent coedited books include The Oxford Handbook on Water Politics and Policy (Oxford University Press 2017) and The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics (2023).

Lauren Risi

Project Director, Environmental Change and Security Program
Environmental Change and Security Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Francis Onditi

Associate Professor
Riara University, Nairobi
Francis Onditi is Associate Professor of structural conflictology & Head of Department (HoD), School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Riara University, Nairobi, Kenya. An authority on the geography of African conflicts and their evolutionary nature, he is also a Senior Research Associate (SRA) with the Qatar-South Africa Centre for Peace and Intercultural Understanding, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2019 he was awarded the prestigious AISA Fellowship by South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). In 2022, he was ranked among the World’s Top 2% scientists/researchers of the year listed by the Stanford University, USA. Having authored and edited 7 major volumes and over 100 articles and book chapters, in 2023, he was awarded the Erasmus Mundus Global teaching fellowship at Leipzig University, Germany.

Samuel Nyanchoga

Director of Research and Innovation
The Catholic University of Eastern Africa
Samuel A Nyanchoga is a professor of history and the director of research and innovation at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He is currently a researcher in AFRAB (AFRICAN ABOLITIONISM); SLAMRANET project member: Slavery, Memory and Race in the Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds funded by CNRS (Centre national de la recherché scientifique) and Project researcher in Slavery in Africa Network (SLAFNET). He is a senior research fellow at the Nantes Institute of Advanced Studies, France. He has also worked as a consultant with AMISOM on the counter-terrorism strategies. He serves as an external reviewer for the Commission for University Education, Kenya. He is also an external examiner to several Kenyan universities. He sits in the Cultural and Scientific Committee of the Kenya National Commission for the UNESCO. He has published books, book chapters and journal articles on a wide range of subjects including, labour, governance, gender, conflict and slavery studies.

Richard Matthew

Director, Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development
UC Irvine School of Social Ecology
Richard Matthew is a Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of California at Irvine. He is the Director of two programs at UCI: the Alec Glasser Center for the Power of Music and Social Change, and the Climate and Urban Sustainability Program. He is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Sustainable Development; a member of the United Nations Expert Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding; and a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy, where he co-chairs the Task Force on Climate Change and Migration. He co-founded the eARTh Studio with aerial dancer Pamela Donohoo. His research explores links among climate change, conflict, public health and migration; environmental peacebuilding; climate change and human trafficking; high resolution flood risk models in complex urban environments; and the power of music to mobilize youth around climate change and sustainable urban redevelopment. Fieldwork sites: Cambodia, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and USA. UN humanitarian and peacebuilding missions: DRC, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. >250 publications. H-index 42.

Päivi Lujala

Professor
Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu
I am a Professor in Geography, with a background in both human geography and economics, at the Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland. My research focuses on two broad topics: i) management of valuable natural resources in the Global South and ii) adaptation to environmental change. In particular, my research focuses on understanding the factors that influence people’s and decision-makers' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding natural resource management, and how improved resource management can be supported through citizen engagement, transparency, and accountability. I am an editor of the Environment and Security journal and an editorial committee member of the Journal of Peace Research and Wisdom Letters. I am an active member of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, serving as treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors.

Chris Huggins

Associate Professor
School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa
Chris Huggins is an Associate Professor with the School for International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa. He is currently engaged in research on 'The Role of Informal Waste Collectors in Emerging International Plastic Regulation' with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Fieldwork for that research is being conducted in Zambia and Mozambique. As a co-applicant on a SSHRC Partnership Grant (PG) entitled 'African Extractivism and the Green Transition', he is engaged in research collaboration with scholars from the University of Windsor, York University, and several academic and research institutions across Southern Africa. He is also involved in research on questions of gendered control over land and natural resources, and the use of new technologies in land use planning and related activities in parts of Africa.

Becca Farnum

Syracuse University London
Rebecca L Farnum is an environmental peacebuilding educator working at the intersections of environmental activism, conflict resolution, and capacity-building, leveraging academia for public service and policy impact. Her teaching explores collective action in response to environmental racism; inclusive urban planning to support global climate justice; and the impact of climate change on Land relations in the Arctic Circle.Becca's PhD in Geography from King’s College London partnered with three activist groups in the Middle East and North Africa to explore discourses of environmental conflict, cooperation, and diplomacy. She is particularly interested in the boundaries of 'environmental peacebuilding' as a field, questioning issues of spatial and temporal scale as well as mainstream assumptions of 'conflict' contexts. Becca also holds an LLM in International Law focused on environmental and human rights law from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Water Security and International Development from the University of East Anglia.

Annika Erickson-Pearson

Professional Facilitator
Independent
Annika Erickson-Pearson is a Swiss-based independent professional facilitator and community organizer. She currently manages two communities of practice, on environmental peacebuilding & on business and conflict. She also provides support to organizations as they build and animate their own communities of practice, coordinate multilateral policy processes, and manage knowledge and learning across the global system. Annika previously served as the Community Management Lead at the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. She has worked with nearly a dozen NGOs over the past ten years, including the Conference on World Affairs, Represent.Us, Run for Something, and the Global Campaign for Education. She holds a Master’s degree from the Geneva Graduate Institute and Bachelor’s from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Zuzia Danielski

IMPACT
Zuzia Danielski is the Communications Director for IMPACT. Zuzia is a senior communications leader with 15+ years of global and national experience. She has a proven track record in working across languages to build brands, drive crisis response, and manage complex multimedia campaigns. With a passion for storytelling, Zuzia has worked with communities across Canada and the globe to tell stories that matter and create positive change. Her career spans multiple sectors working with both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Since 2015, Zuzia has led global multi-channel communications for IMPACT as the organization’s inaugural Communications Director. She began her career in newsrooms, reporting out of the Warsaw bureau of The Associated Press and at National Geographic Poland. Zuzia holds a Master’s degree in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London where her research focused on sexual violence in conflict.

Carl Bruch

Director, International Programs
Environmental Law Institute
Carl Bruch is the Director of International Programs at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the Executive Director of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx). His work focuses on environmental peacebuilding (especially after conflict), environmental governance, adaptation, and environmental emergencies. He has helped dozens of countries— including in many conflict-affected countries—throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe strengthen their environmental laws, institutions, and practices. He has edited more than ten books and authored more than 80 journal articles, book chapters, and reports. He is an adjunct professor at American University School of International Service. He holds a JD from the Northwestern School of Environmental Law of Lewis & Clark College, an MA in physics from the University of Texas-Austin, and a BS in physics (with additional majors in mathematics and anthropology) from Michigan State University.