Our Team

Present

  • Ilke Dagli Hustings

    Ilke Dagli Hustings

    SeeD Head of Operations

    Dr Ilke Dagli has a degree in European and International Politics from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, and completed her MSc in Security and Development at the University of Bristol. She has been working closely with CSOs and SMEs in Cyprus as a project coordinator, project developer, consultant and facilitator since 2006. She co-authored and coordinated myriad local projects such as The Civil Society Dialogue Project, Cyprus Community Media Centre initiative, Access Info Cyprus Project and Play for Peace Project and was closely involved with the ENGAGE Do Your Part for Peace project as a facilitator. Ilke recently completed her PhD on “Securitisation of Identities in Conflict Environments and its Implications on Ontological Security” at the University of Warwick, where she has been teaching World Politics since 2013. She has acquired several research grants for her fieldwork including one from International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF). Ilke is also a Migration Fellow at the Institute of Migration, Turku, Finland and has been a Country Expert for Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) joint initiative of the Department of Political Science, The University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, USA since January 2015. Ilke, who started working as the Senior Researcher for the SDI in October 2016, transitioned into the SeeD Head of Operations position and also acts as the Regional SCORE Specialist for Eastern Europe in April 2017.

    Contact email: dagli@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Alexandros Lordos

    Alexandros Lordos

    Alexandros Lordos is a clinical psychologist. Alexandros is a Research Director of SeeD and the key figure behind the conceptualization of SCORE and its methodology. Alexandros has been supervising the work of the Senior Researchers of SCORE and he has been in charge of methodological training and advisory support to the local partner institutions in the countries where SCORE was rolled out.

  • Ahmet Sözen

    Ahmet Sözen

    Cyprus Strategy and Policy Advisor

    Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sözen has been working in the field of peacebuilding and democratization processes over the last twenty years. He has participated in first-track peace-negotiations in Cyprus, has been actively involved in second-track peace and democratization initiatives, has been providing training and education in the areas of conflict resolution, mediation and peacebuilding and has designed policy recommendations based on objective participatory research with the societal stakeholders and polling. In his capacity as SeeD Research Director, he was involved in the initial consultation and conceptualization of the SCORE Index. Apart from his Research Director position at SeeD, he is a Professor of International Relations and at Eastern Mediterranean University, Director of the Cyprus Policy Center and member of the Greek-Turkish Forum. He is a PhD holder in Political Science from the University of Missouri- Columbia (USA). Sözen has published extensively on the Cyprus conflict. He has given dozens of invited speeches on conflict resolution – including two TED talks (TEDxNicosia 2012, TEDxEMUniversity 2014) and the Cyprus conflict in various countries and he frequently appears on both local and Turkish media, as well as international media, such as Al-Jazeera and BBC, where he comments on world events.

    Contact email: sozen@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Jeannine Suurmond

    Jeannine Suurmond

    SCORE Senior Learning and Innovation Officer

    Jeannine Suurmond has supported state and civil society-led peacemaking and peacebuilding efforts in more than ten countries during the last thirteen years. As Senior Learning and Innovation Officer, Jeannine develops new applications of the SCORE Index, strengthens institutional learning and practice, and performs as SCORE country specialist with a focus on Asia. In addition to her work for SeeD, Jeannine provides trainings on healing, mediation, and reconciliation to various organizations including the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO), and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia, where she is based. She is an advisor to the Cambodian Institute for Mediation and to Women Peacemakers Cambodia.

    From 2011 to 2016, Jeannine worked as peacebuilding advisor for GIZ in Nepal, advising the Nepal government and running ex-combatant integration, reconciliation, and community mediation programs in collaboration with the NGO Pro Public. As part of a research project on infrastructures for peace, Jeannine implemented the SCORE Index in Nepal. Prior to that, she worked for Kreddha: the International Peace Council for States, Peoples and Minorities, providing mediation support for track 1 and 2 intra-state peace processes in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. She also consulted for the Conflict Research Unit of the Clingendael Institute and co-founded the Pax Ludens Foundation for Training and Research in Conflict Resolution in the Netherlands.

    Jeannine is a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication in Albuquerque, USA, and a PhD candidate at the Center for Conflict Studies and Human Rights, Utrecht University. She has an MA degree in Culture and Religion Psychology from the Free University of Amsterdam and various certificates in peacebuilding and mediation. Her publications encompass articles in academic journals, policy papers, and newspapers, on topics including mediation, restorative justice, and infrastructures for peace.

    Contact email: jeannine.suurmond@gmail.com

  • Sophia Papastavrou Faustmann

    Sophia Papastavrou Faustmann

    Gender SCORE Specialist

    Sophia is a gender and international development expert who has experience working with the UN, OSCE and CSOs in the MENA Region including internships with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Communications at the UN Secretariat in New York. She recently held the position of Technical Lead at World Vision International, Middle East and Eastern Europe Regional Office, specializing in gender mainstreaming in the humanitarian context, gender capacity building and grant acquisitions for the Region. Sophia is in the final stage of completing her PhD at the University of Toronto, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) on women's organizing for peace in Cyprus and the implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

    Contact email: papastavrou@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Karin Schuitema

    Karin Schuitema

    SeeD Researcher

    Karin Schuitema obtained her master’s degree in archaeology of the Near East (with a focus on Mesopotamia and the Levant) as well as Mediterranean Archaeology (with a focus on Greece) at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She has been working on several archaeological and ethnographic projects in Syria, Egypt, Greece and Turkey. Additionally she has been working as a visual artist (painting, photography and ethnographic film). She was employed on project basis, as a project researcher and a lecturer respectively at Leuven University (2009/2010) and VU University (2010). Between 2011 and 2015 she was employed as a staff member and researcher at the NIT (Netherlands Institute in Turkey) based in Istanbul, where she set up and carried out an oral history research project, in cooperation with researchers and students of Turkish and international universities, about the heritage of Tophane, an Istanbul neighbourhood, in a political, social, ethnographic context and on different levels, ranging from the individual inhabitant to the larger implications of city planning in Istanbul and Turkey’s politics thereby using ethnographic, participatory and visual methods. During her time in Istanbul she was also volunteering for several grass root initiatives, focusing on migrants and refugees. She has been a project-based assistant, coordinator and as a lecturer for NISIS (Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies) and LUCIS (Centre for the Study of Islam and Society) between 2015 and 2016. Her research interests have always revolved around the Eastern Mediterranean and themes such as heritage, history, politics, identity, migration and visual methods.

    Contact email: schuitema@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Hafsa Halawa

    Hafsa Halawa

    MENA SCORE Specialist

    Hafsa Halawa is a political analyst and development specialist focused on democratisation in the Arab states. Halawa has experience with the National Democratic Institute, the UN Development Program Regional Office for Arab States, the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, and the EU Delegation to Egypt. Most recently, she served as the Regional Programme Manager for the Middle East and North Africa at the Swedish International Development Agency, working in the democracy and human rights sector. Her research focuses are on political developments and transition across the Middle East and North Africa, using her development experience to complement a focus on civil society and judicial and electoral reform. Halawa holds an LLB from the University of Exeter, and an LLM from the University of London (UCL & Queen Mary's Joint Programme).

    Contact email: halawa@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Oksana Lemishka

    Oksana Lemishka

    Eastern Europe SCORE Specialist

    In 2017 Oksana Lemishka completed MPhil studies at the University of Cambridge with specialization in Sociology of Media and Culture. Her research interests lie in the role of soft power tools in transnational dialogue with special focus on the EaP countries. Since 2009 Oksana has been teaching at the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Ukraine, cognitive linguistics being her primary research field. In parallel, Oksana has initiated and managed educational-cultural projects in Ukraine, TED Inspired Interdisciplinary Conference and Ukrainian Summer School (Kramatorsk), to name a few. Currently, she occupies the position of Eastern Europe Regional Specialist at SeeD implementing SCORE peace building projects in Ukraine and Moldova. She is an active member of the Cambridge Society of Ukraine and an alumna of Chevening Scholarship of the UK government.

    Contact email: lemishka@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Yoshimiko Owaki

    Yoshimiko Owaki

    SCORE Data Analyst

    Dr. Yoshimiko Owaki has diverse professional experience in research, corporate management and language services. She received her Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and LUISS Guido Carli of Rome. Her doctoral dissertation tilted “Modeling Immigrant Language Acquisition and Integration: Toward an Integrated Micro-Macro Modeling” was aimed at developing innovative modeling approaches. The research was fully supported by the European Commission funded research consortium—the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Globalization, Europe and Multilateralism (GEM PhD School). She holds a MPP in Public Management and a MA in Japanese-Korean Translation and Interpretation. Her current research interests revolve around statistical modeling, social system designs and designing methods, especially in the context of plural societies.

    Contact email: owaki@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Alexander Guest

    Alexander Guest

    SCORE Data Analyst

    After working in astronomy, media analysis and wooden toy-making, Alexander has turned his attention to quantitative research and data analysis. His past work includes analysis of observational data from the CHANDRA X-ray space telescope and of textual data from Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot newspaper articles about the Syrian refugee crisis, which strove to introduce quantitative methods to the humanities. As well as supporting the data analysis team at SeeD, Alexander in exploring the channelling of new datastreams from both traditional and social media into the SCORE. He speaks Greek well and Turkish badly. He is passionate about quantitative research, data analysis and visualisation, political engagement and activism, and Cypriot rapprochement.

    Contact email: guest@seedsofpeace.eu

  • Meltem Ä°kinci

    Meltem Ä°kinci

    SCORE Researcher

    Meltem Ikinci is a MSc holder in Management and Implementation of Development Projects from University of Manchester. Her dissertation research focused on the role of civil society in promoting good governance reflecting on Turkish Cypriot perspectives. Over the past 7 years, Meltem has participated in several bi-communal initiatives focused on peacebuilding, reconciliation and conflict-resolution. She is currently working as the Resilience and Fundraising Advisor of SeeD, for facilitating cross-programme learning, ‘weaving’ among SeeD’s various projects and support their implementation. This involves contributing to the development of the policy briefs for SCORE Cyprus, Ukraine and Liberia Projects as well as complementing the outreach efforts and stakeholder engagement in SCORE Cyprus and Ukraine Projects. In addition, Meltem has worked as a short-term expert in a feasibility study as part of the EU-funded Technical Assistance Project called “Civic Space”, implemented by B&S Europe in collaboration with the European Commission, with the aim of providing a comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of bi-communal projects in Cyprus.

    Contact email: ikinci@seedsofpeace.eu


Former

  • Maria Ioannou

    Maria Ioannou

    Maria Ioannou is a social psychologist and Senior Researcher in SeeD working on SCORE. In collaboration with Research Director, Alexandros Lordos, Maria Ioannou is in charge of SCORE data analysis and the reporting of the results. She is also in charge of documenting SCORE and its methodology.

  • Giorgos Filippou

    Giorgos Filippou

    Former SCORE Specialist

    Giorgos Filippou is a social psychologist. He worked as a Senior Researcher in SeeD responsible for the SCORE index when it was being conceptualized and during its first rolling out in Cyprus. Giorgos liaised with international experts and had a leading role in organizing the International Peace and Reconciliation Conference that took place in September 2012 where the idea of SCORE was presented and discussed. Giorgos was also the person behind the analysis and the reporting of SCORE Cyprus 2013.

    Period of Engagement: March 2012 – September 2013

  • Nicolas Jarraud

    Nicolas Jarraud

    Nicolas Jarraud is an environmental scientist. He worked as a Senior Researcher in SeeD and he was responsible for the rolling-out of SCORE in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). His contribution to SCORE Bosnia included the calibration of SCORE in BiH, the provision of methodological training and advisory support to the local partner in BiH, the analysis of the SCORE Bosnia data, the drafting of the results report, and the presentation of SCORE’s results in Bosnia. Previously, he was also involved in the conceptualization of the original SCORE index.