Dr. Erica Chenoweth
Erica Chenoweth, Ph.D. is Professor & Associate Dean for Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. An internationally recognized authority on political violence and its alternatives, she was ranked among the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2013 for her efforts to promote the empirical study of civil resistance. Dr. Chenoweth received the 2014 Karl Deutsch Award, which the International Studies Association gives annually to the scholar under the age of 40 who has made the greatest impact on the field of international politics or peace research. Together with Maria J. Stephan, she won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, which is presented annually in recognition of outstanding proposals for creating a more just and peaceful world order. Their book, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Columbia University Press, 2011), also won the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award, given annually by the American Political Science Association in recognition of the best book on government, politics, or international affairs published in the U.S. in the previous calendar year.
Dr. Chenoweth has presented her research all over the world at various academic conferences, government workshops, and international governmental organizations including at the 2013 World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates held in Warsaw. Her research and commentary has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Economist, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, TEDxBoulder, The New Republic, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and elsewhere.
Dr. Chenoweth received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Colorado and a B.A. in political science and German from the University of Dayton. She resides in Denver, Colorado, and spends much of her free time fly-fishing and trekking in the Rocky Mountains.
Dr. Evan Perkoski
Evan Perkoski, Ph.D. is Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, specializing in the study of terrorism, insurgency, and violent and nonviolent uprisings. Leveraging quantitative tools and original data, Dr. Perkoski’s research seeks to understand variations in the behavior of militant organizations and the dynamics of internal conflict. He is particularly interested in the organizational dynamics of non-state actors, government responses to violent and nonviolent uprisings, cyber warfare, and the role of technology in subnational conflict.
Dr. Perkoski previously held fellowships at the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, as well as the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He received a PhD and MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Wesleyan University with high honors in Government.
Panel Presenters
Victoria K. Holt is a Distinguished Fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center. Her areas of expertise focus on issues relating to international security and multilateral tools, including peace operations and conflict prevention, the United Nations and Security Council, protection of civilians, crisis regions and U.S. policy-making. Prior to joiningStimson, Ms. Holt was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Security in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO) at the U.S. Department of State, serving from 2009 to early 2017. In that role, she was responsible for U.S. policy and guidance for U.S. actions in the UN Security Council and for its mechanisms. She oversaw the Office of Peace Operations, Sanctions and Counter-terrorism, and the Office of United Nations Political Affairs. She led the development of U.S. diplomatic initiatives, including the 2015 Leaders’ Summit on U.N. Peacekeeping, hosted by President Obama to increase capacities for UN operations.
Ms. Holt was a Senior Associate at the Stimson Center, where she co-directed the Future of Peace Operations program from 2001-2009, writing and speaking widely on UN and regional peace operations, the protection of civilians and atrocity prevention, targeted sanctions, rule of law and U.S. policy. Ms. Holt served on the Genocide Prevention Task Force as the lead on military options and wrote a pioneering report on UN missions and the protection of civilians.
Ms. Holt served earlier as Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of State during the Clinton Administration, following a role as Executive Director of a bipartisan campaign to pay U.S. arrears to the United Nations. Ms. Holt also worked at Washington-based policy institutes on international affairs and nuclear weapons issues. She is a graduate of the Naval War College and Wesleyan University.
Mohamed IsHaq “Quscondy” Abdulshafi is a founding member of the Darfur Students Movement against Darfur genocide. He is advocacy and research fellow at Peace Direct, where he conducts research and advocacy on Sudan. Mr. Abdulshafi holds dual masters in Sustainable International Development and Coexistence and Conflict Resolution at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He holds a BA in Development Studies from Kampala International University, Uganda, and a Diploma in Philosophy from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. He’s a native Arabic and Fur speaker, fluent in English and speaks Amharic.
Mr. Abdulshafi received the Civil Society Leadership Award from Open Society Foundation in 2018, in recognition of his activism and leadership in Sudan civil society sector.
Because of his activism, Mr. Abdulshafi was forced by his Sudan government to flee to East Africa where he continued his work for nine years.
Maciej Bartkowski, Ph.D. is Senior Director for Education & Research at ICNC, where he directs various academic programs for students, faculty, and educators from around the world to support teaching, research, and study on civil resistance. He is also an editor of the ICNC Monographs and special reports series. Before joining in 2009, he held managerial and teaching positions at Adelphi University and Bard College.
Dr. Bartkowski holds an adjunct faculty position at Krieger School of Arts and Sciences of Johns Hopkins University where he teaches strategic nonviolent resistance. In 2016, he was appointed an adjunct professor at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Dr. Bartkowski speaks on strategic nonviolent conflict, and civil resistance at various academic and policy forums around the world. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and M.A. in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University in Budapest, completed his undergraduate work at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.