CV BOOKLET BIOGRAPHIES RAGHDA ABU-SHAHLA Date of Birth: 31st August E-mail: [email protected] Biography Raghda Abu-Shahla is a committed activist for a better future towards peace, security and democracy in Palestine. Her work in Gaza with national and international organizations has enriched her understanding of issues of peace and development. She worked on EU and UK health development projects geared towards strengthening the health management field for the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Additionally, she worked with United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) on training for commercial crossings with Israel, and worked with the International Security Team of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The diversity of her work experiences over the past decade speak to her dedication of gaining a broader understanding of how to bring about change for peace. Raghda is a Leader for Democracy Fellow of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in New York, USA, a scholar of the Woodrow Wilson Center of International Scholars, and an International Peace and Security Leader (IPSI 2014). She has recently published an article, titled MENA Women: Opportunities and Obstacles in 2014 and a book titled Revolution By Love: Emerging Arab Youth Voices. She holds a Bachelor in English Literature and Master Degree in American Regional Studies. Personal Introduction I have spent most of my life in war-torn countries, and having had a first-hand experience of the ugliness of war, I became a committed believer in Peace of Palestine, promoting Peace & Gender Equality to create a better future for the generations to come. I strive to engage the Palestinian women in the political decision process to create a democratic regime in Palestine. AFGG 2014 | 1 NETTA AHITUV Date of Birth: 31st August E-mail: [email protected] Biography Netta is a journalist and an editor at Haaretz, an established liberal newspaper (print and online) in Israel. Her main role is writing in-depth magazine articles, usually investigative stories covering environmental topics, the food industry and the energy market. Recently she won the Australian-Israeli Pratt Award for Environmental Journalism in the category “Extensive and Outstanding Body of Work.” In her role as an editor, she is responsible for special issues, such as the yearly Environment or Education Journals of Haaretz. She has also been the vice editor of the foreign news desk until very recently. She is often invited to news and debate TV programmes in varied channels (national and international) to talk about her articles or debate other relevant issues. In some of the programmes, she has a weekly spot, in which she talks about environmental or foreign affairs. Netta has an M.A. in Environmental Studies from Tel Aviv University, for which she wrote a thesis about Environmental Philosophy, and a B.A. in Biology and Humanities, also from Tel Aviv University. During her college years, she took independent courses in different organisations, such as Architecture Theory in Venice International University or Data Journalism by the European Journalism Centre. Personal Introduction I grew up in Tel Aviv, but every couple of years my family used to move abroad for a semester or a year, therefore I am very fond of travelling, relocating, exploring and meeting new people. I continued these journeys in my adult years – living in New York, Venice, Basel and travelling extensively in Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. I love soccer, therefore a couple of years ago I founded a girls soccer team in Tel Aviv, which plays every Wednesday evening. I’ve been publicly “marked” by the Israeli Minister of Economy, Naftali Bennett, who leads a big religious party, when he had decided that one of my articles was challenging the Jewish character of Israel. You can imagine what turmoil followed. This has been a terrible summer for all sides concerned in the region I call “home”. My hopes and actions are aimed, as always, at changing the realities here, so the future will be brighter and better for everyone, including for my 18 month old son. 2 | AFGG 2014 NELLI BABAYAN Date of Birth: 12th January E-mail: [email protected] Biography Dr. Nelli Babayan is a Post-doctoral researcher within TRANSWORLD project at the Freie Universität Berlin. She received her Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Trento, Italy (2012) and her MA in Political Science from the Central European University, Hungary (2005). After completion of her Ph.D. she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Government and Politics, University of Tartu, Estonia where she taught an MA course on Democracy Promotion and democratization in the South Caucasus. Her main research interests include democracy promotion/democratization, EU and US foreign policies and transatlantic relations, politics of the South Caucasus, and EU-Russia relations. In 2005-2008 she worked for Core Media Support Program for Armenia implemented by IREX and funded by USAID, where she was Training Department Manager in 2006-2008. In 2010 she was visiting researcher at the Center for International and Comparative Studies, ETH Zurich and think-tank FRIDE, Madrid. Personal Introduction Originally from Yerevan, Armenia, I have been travelling and living abroad for the majority of my life. Spending a year of my undergraduate studies at a U.S. university also shaped my life and career, yet again reaffirming the path I want to follow and type of education I want to receive. I have lived in Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland and after receiving my Ph.D. in Italy, I have moved for work to one of the greatest cities, Berlin. My current work provides me with an amazing opportunity to fulfil my intellectual ambitions and travel, exploring new places and meeting new people. At the same time, I like spending my time in Berlin, since it has a vibrant social life, and I can always find things to do, be it frequent visits to my gym, music festivals or carnivals, and a great atmosphere for watching football. AFGG 2014 | 3 BENEDETTA BERTI Date of Birth: 1st February E-mail: [email protected] Biography Dr. Benedetta Berti is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a member of the faculty at Tel Aviv University and a post-doctoral fellow at Ben-Gurion University. In the past, Dr. Berti worked in NGOs and research institutes in Latin America, the Middle East, and the US, focusing on human rights, internal conflict, and political violence. Dr. Berti’s areas of expertise include human security, internal conflict, integration of armed groups and post-conflict stabilization, as well as democratization, civil society, social movements and strategic nonviolence. Her current research is related to political violence and conflict in the Middle East, with a focus on Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian politics. Recently, Dr. Berti has authored the book Armed Political Organisations: From Conflict to Integration (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Dr. Berti is a lecturer, public speaker and news commentator on international security, Middle Eastern politics, and the Arab- Israeli conflict. In addition, Dr. Berti works as a human security and foreign policy consultant for political risk consulting firms, NGOs, international organisations as well as governments. She is a member of the Young Atlanticist Programme of the Atlantic Council, the Körber Foundation’s Munich Young Leaders, the ME 2.0 Israeli-Palestinian Young Business Leaders Forum, and is affiliated with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Personal Introduction I was born and raised in Bologna, Italy, but I have spent the past decade living abroad: first working in a human rights organisation in the internal conflict torn Chiapas region of Mexico, then studying in the United States, and finally working in Israel. I have extremely ‘itchy feet’ and love exploring the world: so far I have travelled extensively in both Central and South America as well as in the Middle East and Europe. I am passionate about my work and even in my free time I participate in a number of peace initiatives and grass roots-based social activism. But there are many other issues I am passionate about. First and foremost is my daughter: a lot of my free time is devoted to her. I also dedicate my free-time to fiction writing, classical ballet, and—being a bookworm—I also love reading novels (I guess my favourite book is Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov). 4 | AFGG 2014 FERNANDO LUZ BRANCOLI Date of Birth: 6th April E-mail: [email protected] Biography Fernando Brancoli is a Lecturer in International Security at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio / Brazil) and a part-time Humanitarian Specialist at the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. He started his career as a foreign correspondent for news agencies such as Agence France Presse (AFP) and Reuters, covering the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, and the entrance of peacekeeping troops in Haiti in 2009. After leaving the news room, Brancoli worked with humanitarian agencies, such as the ICRC and the UNHCR, as a political advisor, working mainly in the Middle East and North Africa, especially in Somalia, the Palestine Occupied Territories, Libya and Syria. Since 2012, Brancoli has been focusing on his Ph.D. in International Relations at the San Tiago Dantas Programme in Brazil, with a visiting research fellowship at the University of California – Santa Barbara, focusing on the study of private actors in war zones. He also holds research positions at the Université Paris I – Pantheón-Sorbonne (France), University of Berne (Switzerland) and at the Council for Arabic Studies (Lebanon). Personal Introduction I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a world-famous city known for the beaches and the wonderful landscape.