Class XVIII (2019-2021)
The Uppsala Rotary Peace Center is excited to welcome the new group of talented and committed Peace Fellows Class XVIII. Fellows come from different countries and have diverse backgrounds that will enrich the Peace and Conflict Master Program.
Samikshya Bashishtha Bhattarai
Samikshya is interested in positive peace, justice and human rights. She wants to conduct studies which will concentrate on exploring victims-centred conflict resolution mechanisms. This includes the issues of timely delivered transitional justice as well as sound mental health of conflict victims in the long run. She equally wants to focus on finding out the ways to end structural violations of human rights.
Samikshya brings the experience of working as a social science researcher and has conducted research projects on migration, peace and conflict and mental health. She has published joint articles on the issue of shrinking civic space and delayed transitional justice on a Nepalese national daily. She also has been involved in the work of project evaluation.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Community Development from Kathmandu University. She is sponsored by Rotary District 3292.
Andrew Fallon
Andrew Fallon is interested in studying restorative justice programs, both after violent conflict and within the educational and legal structures in areas not in conflict. He is also interested in the concept of reconciliation, particularly from an indigenous and religious perspective. His long-term vision is to help community-based organisations systematically measure the impacts of their programs and communicate those impacts to decision makers and funders.
Andrew brings experience working with grassroots organisations, medium-sized NGOs, and multilateral institutions with extended field experience in East and West Africa. He is an appreciated grant writer and researcher in the fields of peacebuilding and education.
He holds an MTS degree from the Wesley Theological Seminary, a certificate in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, and undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Global Policy from James Madison University. His sponsor district is 7360.
Agha Kamil Hamid
Kamil's research interests focus on the role of education in long-term peacebuilding. He hopes to explore the acquisition of 21st-century skills by young adults as a potential mechanism for imparting conflict resolution abilities as well as introducing peace education as an academic discipline in his native country of Pakistan.
Kamil has multiple years of experience in the development sector of Pakistan. Most recently, he worked as a Storyteller for the Aga Khan University Examination Board (part of the larger Aga Khan Development Network), through which he was able to travel across the country capturing high-impact stories from students, teachers, schools, and communities affected by the institution's mission to bring high-quality education to lower and middle-income households.
He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College in the United States and is also a United World Colleges scholar. He was sponsored by Holly White, Rotary Peace Fellow alumna from the University of Bradford (Class XV, 2016-2017).
Amanda Lanigan
Amanda hopes to explore the intersection of climate change and conflict, specifically regarding migration and food security. She is also interested in researching how peace building methods can be utilised to empower marginalised groups to enhance disaster resiliency and recovery.
Amanda has ten years of experience in the education and non-profit sectors. As an educator, Amanda aided in the development of programs designed to foster leadership, inclusivity, community service, and global citizenship. In the non-profit sector, she has worked with community leaders to develop programs focused on education, economic empowerment, and social services for underserved populations. She has also worked to enhance sustainability and cross cultural communication in the non-profit sector.
She holds a BA degree in History, with minors in Political Science and Secondary Education from Bridgewater State University. Her sponsor district is 7950.
Jordan Michelle Mathews
As a Rotary Peace Fellow, Jordan is interested in learning more about the intersection between international security and gender, as well as, the role massmedia plays (or doesn’t play) in promoting conflict or peace.
Jordan served in the Dominican Republic for two years as a Youth Development Volunteer in the United States Peace Corps. There she worked with community counterparts, like the Ministry of Women and her community’s high school psychologist, to promote gender equality in the classroom. Collaboratively, she helped implement comprehensive sexual health courses in her community’s high school, taught Chicas Brillantes-a female empowerment group-to middle school aged girls, and hosted the region’s first Let Girls Learn Conference that trained local educational leaders on positive masculinity and how to implement these principles into the classroom. Through her work, she learned the necessity of combating toxic masculinity in order to help promote and sustain peaceful societies.
Jordan holds a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Spanish and certificate in International Media from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is sponsored by Rotary District 5440.
Tanushree Rao
Tanushree is an Indian-Australian Fellow with an interest in using data to inform state-building, gender equality and responses to migration challenges.
Before arriving in Uppsala, Tanushree worked in Timor-Leste on communication projects that interact with technology to address health, education and social inclusion. Previously, she was a program advisor for an Early Warning, Early Response violence monitoring program and has consulted with a number of aid and development agencies. She is also a freelance writer and photographer.
Tanushree has a dual Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies and International Relations from the University of Queensland, along with a Diploma in Languages. Her Honours thesis focused on social movements and environmental activism. She is sponsored by Rotary District 9600.
Maryam Safi
Maryam is interested to be specialised in the areas of peace and conflict studies such as the Emerging Security Threats, Gender, War and Peace, International Interventions and Protection of Civilians. She wants to contribute to the creation of actionable knowledge research in the area of peace and conflict studies.
Maryam has maintained and managed International IDEA’s elections-related global databases in the past two years. She has experience leading advocacy efforts on prevention of sexual harassment of women in Afghanistan. She has worked to help and support human rights civil society organisations in Afghanistan to implement projects to combat sexual harassment of women in Afghan society. In addition, she has contributed to the advocacy efforts for Afghanistan youth policy. She contributed to the establishment of youth councils in the eight regions of Afghanistan to encourage young people's participation in the political process by providing them leadership programs. Furthermore, she presented Afghan youth and women in national and international conferences, such as the First Global Forum on Youth Policies.
Maryam holds a Master's degree in Social Change & Peace-building from the Future Generations Graduate School and a Bachelor's degree in Islamic Laws from Kabul University in Afghanistan. She is sponsored by Rotary District 2350.
Jonah Simonds
Jonah is seeking to better understand how peace and conflict are shaped by the movement of people, goods, and information in a globalised world.
Jonah has experience working in international trade, immigration law, and education. His work as an export controls analyst for a medical device manufacturer has informed his interest in studying sanctions, their impact upon regular people, and their efficacy as a tool of foreign policy. He was previously awarded the Technos International Prize for promoting international understanding, and credits his former students as a constant source of inspiration.
He holds a BA degree in Political Science from Carleton College. Jonah is sponsored by Rotary District 5950.
Mariko Yamaguchi
Mariko is interested in negotiation and mediation as conflict resolution channels. She would like to pursue effective ways of bringing stakeholders together to talk on possible solutions, through diplomacy, international agencies, local actors or other potential approaches.
Mariko has about 7 years of experience in development assistance. She was a donor coordination officer at Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh to advise on Japan’s ODA and humanitarian policy focusing on the Rohingya Crisis. Mariko has also served as Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in Kenya conducting community communications on sanitation and malaria. She has monitored local authorities’ capacity building at UNICEF Cambodia.
Mariko holds MA in International Development from Elliott School of International Affairs of The George Washington University, U.S., focusing on peacebuilding and field research in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. She is sponsored by Rotary District 2660.
Muyi (Jia) Yang
Muyi is interested in institutional arrangement that fosters extreme violence, particularly the systematic sexual violence, against civilians in armed conflict. He aims to refine both his qualitative and quantitative research skills in conducting multi-disciplinary research projects. In addition, Muyi aspires to hone his skills of international negotiation in conflict resolution.
Muyi worked as a business representative in import and export industry for over five years where he witnessed the exploitation of coalminers that contributed to the prospering international commodity trade. After that he turned to focus on projects to empower marginalised groups including minority youth from complicated background both in China and the U.S. He also established collaborative educational program to promote the educational opportunities for young girls in a minority village in China.
Muyi received his Bachelor degree in International Studies from Illinois Wesleyan University. He is sponsored by Rotary District 6490.