Scholarship and Biography
Mari Fitzduff brings more than 25 years of experience in coexistence policy development, practice and research to the program. From 1990 to 1997, she served as chief executive of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, which was at the forefront in developing governmental policies and local community programs to tackle many decades of violent conflict. More recently she served as director of UNU/INCORE, a United Nations University center and one of the world’s leading organizations for international research on conflict. The center was based at the University of Ulster, where she was chair of conflict studies.
Fitzduff has served as a consultant and trainer on conflict programs in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Basque country and the CIS states. She is frequently tapped by governments and international organizations as an international expert on issues of conflict and diversity. Her many publications include "Community Conflict Skills: A Handbook for Anti-Sectarian Work"; "Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Processes in Northern Ireland," which won an American Library Association Notable Book award; and "NGOs at the Table," with Cheyanne Church. She is also coeditor of the three-volume series "The Psychology of War, Conflict Resolution and Peace." In addition she has edited 'Public Policies for Shared Societies' which is concerned with optimal public policies for divided societies. Her current interest is in Conflict and Neuroscience and she has published an Introduction to Neuroscience and Peacebuilding for the conflict and peacebuilding field. Her current interests and research are in Cross Cultural Neuroscience, and Neuroscience and Followership. In 2017 she published an edited book'Why irrational Politics Appeal - understanding the Allure of Trump. Her latest book, published by Oxford University Press in 2021 is called Our Brains at War: The Neuroscience of Conflict and Peacebuilding.