TEAM

Asma Khalifa is a Libyan activist and researcher who has worked on human rights, women’s rights and youth empowerment since 2011. She has begun working on peace-building and conflict transformation in Libya. In May 2016, Ms. Khalifa received the Luxembourg Peace Prize during The World Peace Forum in the European Parliament in Luxembourg. In 2017, she was named one of the 100 most influential young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards. In 2018, Ms. Khalifa was named one of the 30 most extraordinary voices by the African Women in Leadership Organization. Ms. Khalifa is the co-founder of Tamazight Women’s Movement, a think/do tank that is working on gender equality and research on the indigenous women of Libya and North Africa.

Bjørn Ihler is an internationally renowned researcher and expert in countering and preventing radicalization into violent extremism through the design of healthier communities on and off-line. Ihler is also a member of the group Extremely Together working under the Kofi Annan Foundation to empower youth internationally to challenge violent extremism in their local communities and work against radicalisation across the globe. His most recent appointment as of July 2020 is as Chairperson of the Independent Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.

Through his international work, Ihler has among others worked with and advised both local organizations, national governments and international institutions such as the EU, OSCE and the UN to develop strategies to more effectively prevent radicalisation into violent extremism that may lead to terrorism, and build more peaceful communities.

As the Khalifa Ihler Institue project manager and chief operating officer, Marion enjoys working in the background ensuring that all projects are running smoothly. She has a technical background in international development, agriculture and food security. She speaks French, English and Spanish fluently. Marion is particularly interested in peace and diversity promotion, women's rights, and Excel spreadsheets.

Miriam Fanin holds a Master degree in Diplomacy and International cooperation, and a Bachelor in Intercultural Mediation. Miriam was born in Italy but is currently living in the Arctic. She has always been interested in bringing conflicting groups together and finding common ground. Her research and work focusing on hate-groups has guided her work on the Khalifa Ihler Hate-Map for which she is lead researcher and focus on far-right activities across Europe. She is fluent in Italian, German, English and Russian and focuses on these regions. Her past work includes research on the democratization process in Russia and the roots of Putinism. She is currently researching the far-right movement in the Post Soviet Space.

Hella Grichi graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Tunis, specializing in English studies. She is also a Young Mediterranean Voices alumni who loves debating and partaking in workshops and seminars around the world. Her main focus is on social justice, feminism and LGBTQ rights, especially in the context of the MENA region. As a witness of the Freedom and Dignity revolution in 2011, she believes in progressive grassroots activism and the power it holds, despite the challenges that Tunisia is still going through.

After teaching English in Kasserine and working at the German embassy in Tunis for a while, she is now based in Berlin, in pursuit of new challenges. She is fluent in German, Arabic, English, French and Memes.

Pallavi Kaushal is passionate about inclusion, feminism, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding. An advocate for sustainable, youth-led social change and feminist leadership, Pallavi holds a MA in Peace, Security, Development, and International Conflict Transformation from the University of Innsbruck. She comes to The Khalifa Ihler Institute with 12 years of experience across a spectrum of roles in international development.

Ava May Callanan holds a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology and graduated from Malmö University with a Master of Science in Criminology. Ava was born in Ireland where she currently lives. Her research has centred around the criminal mind and in more recent times focusing on Extremism, terrorism and media representation of extremism. Her interests are debating, films and media.

Sarah Przedpelska works at the intersection of education, research and community development. Over the past 14 years she has worked with social entrepreneurs, universities and research institutions, Norwegian municipalities, grassroots NGOs, international aid organizations, global tech and urban developers in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Canada. Core to her work is how we create inclusion and belonging.