Bridget is an aspiring peace scholar who has worked most of her career with Quaker peace organizations.  She is inspired by the reality that in every situation, no matter how violent, there are people building peace.  Bridget has  worked on peace and conflict issues in the US and international policy realms, and with community peace organizations in Mexico and South Africa. She is pursuing her PhD with George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.  Her dissertation strives toward developing a theory of peace agency by exploring the question of why and how people choose peace in the midst of violence.  Bridget’s other research and work interests include preventing mass atrocities, the end of war, nonviolent mechanisms for civilian protection, and local capacities for peace. Bridget serves on the board of Peace Direct US, the International Programs Executive Committee of the American Friends Service Committee, and the Pickett Endowment for Quaker Leadership. She has taught courses on the role of religion in war and peace, development and peacebuilding, and Quaker social witness. She holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University.  Bridget and her partner Alberto have two young sons who challenge their peacemaking skills on a daily basis.  See more of Bridget’s work here.

Andrea Bartoli served as the Dean of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University from 2013-2019. He works primarily on peacemaking and genocide prevention. He is a Senior Fellow at the S-CAR Center for Peacemaking Practice (CPP) and a faculty member at the Center on Peace and Conflict Studies at Seton Hall University. He is the founding director of Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR), a Senior Research Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), as an Affiliate at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. Previously, Bartoli has chaired the Columbia University Seminar on Conflict Resolution. He was a Teaching Fellow at Georgetown University and at the University of Siena. He was also the Cumbie Chair and Director of the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) and the Dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Dr. Bartoli is also a member of the Dynamical Systems and Conflict Team and a Board member of Search for Common Ground.
Dr. Bartoli has also been involved in many conflict resolution activities as a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Among his publications Negotiating Peace: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (2013); he co-edited Peacemaking: From Practice to Theory (2011) and is one of the authors of Attracted to Conflict (2013).
Bartoli received an Italian dottorato di ricerca (Ph.D. equivalent) at the University of Milan and a laurea (B.A./M.A. equivalent) at the University of Rome.