IAS Fellow at College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham University (October – 

Martine Miller is the Vice President at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy in Washington D.C.; a Lecturer at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok Thailand; a Fellow at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego; and, a consultant for a range of organisations such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). She is a senior level professional with over fifteen years of international experience focused on inclusive conflict transformation processes in over 70 countries—across the Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, North and South America—with regional bodies (ASEAN, AU, EU), the United Nations (UNDPA, UNDP, UN Women, UNOPS, UNSSC, etc.), governments (Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Norway, Sweden, United States, etc.), NGOs and academic institutions including Chulalongkorn University, Harvard University, and the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego.

Her research interests include inclusive mediation, focusing on gender and on religious peacemakers. She has area studies expertise in the Central to Asia-Pacific region.

Ms Miller’s Fellowship relates directly to the IAS sponsored project, Mediation for the 21^st Century: connecting the local and the global, led by Dr Catherine Turner (Law) and Dr May Darwich (Government and International Affairs), which is a research project that seeks to deconstruct the dominant security paradigms within which international mediation operates to reveal the limitations that these paradigms impose on thinking in the field. The project starts with the need to rethink what mediation is for in the context of modern conflict and will look specifically at inclusive mediation, and how we need to move beyond simply adding more diverse actors to existing processes, but to re-think and redesign the values of the process itself to take into account the needs and interests of all sections of society.

Martine Miller’s research at Durham will analyse the quality of inclusion and participation in peace processes in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Libya, Syria, etc. This involves assessing the influence and ability of women negotiators and religious mediators to make meaningful contributions to the process. The research findings will be developed into practical recommendations that will directly contribute to improved understanding, quality inclusion and more effective participation in two case study countries – Afghanistan and Myanmar. Her Fellowship will create substantial opportunities for international academic collaboration in this field by linking Durham University with the groundbreaking ‘Broadening Participation’ project at the University of Geneva and the ‘Inclusion of Civil Society Actors in Peace Processes’ project at Uppsala University. Additional collaboration with colleagues in SGIA and the Durham Global Security Institute is also envisaged to enhance in particular DGSI’s international reputation and presence in the field of mediation.