FCT DIRECTOR

Padraig O’MALLEY is the founding Director of the FCT with over 30 years experience specialising in the complications of divided societies, such as Northern Ireland, South Africa and most recently Iraq. He has written extensively on these subjects and has been actively involved in promoting dialogue among representatives of all factions.

The premise that underlies O’Malley’s work is simple: people from divided societies are in the best position to help people in other divided societies; that former protagonists, often former purveyors of violence and death who abandoned violence to resolve their differences, are best equipped to share their often tentative and difficult journeys to recognising the necessity to abandon violence as the instrument to achieve their political aims and open the gateways to recovery, reconstruction, and reconciliation.

Padraig O’Malley is the John Joseph Moakley Chair of Peace and Reconciliation at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and author of a number of prize winning books on Northern Ireland including:The Uncivil Wars: Ireland Today (1983) and Biting at the Grave (1990); South Africa: Shades of Difference (2006); and The Middle East: What the Future Tells Us; forthcoming (2012).

Professor O’Malley has monitored elections in South Africa, Mozambique, and the Philippines on behalf of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He is also a frequent contributor to The Boston Globe. O’Malley was born in Dublin. He was educated at University College, Dublin, and at Yale, Tufts and Harvard universities.

FCT Management Support

Kübra Kalkandelen leads international projects related to self-determination, and social impact at the International Communities Organisation, London. She has been awarded the European Commission Scholarship for a 2-years Masters in Human Rights Policy and Practice, taught jointly by the University of Roehampton, London, the University of Goteborg, Sweden, and the Arctic University, Tromso, Norway. Kübra is also the founder of Mind the Life, where she provides consultancy services to companies and third sector.

Kenza Camara is a current student at the University of Oxford. Kenza’s previous area of studies has been most significantly focused on African emergence, economic development in Africa, post-colonial studies and political theory of national identity and culture. She has experience in digital marketing and project coordinating within the property and entertainment industry. However, her volunteer with refugees has geared her professional transition. Currently, Kenza is completing an MSc in African Studies, looking to engage with conceptual linkages between post-conflict transition, economic development, and gender analysis. As a Project Co-ordinator at the International Communities Organisation, Kenza is enthusiastic about social and economic empowerment through education, research and impact investment.

Kathryn Nicholls oversees the fundraising arm of the Forum for Cities in Transition where she raises awareness and secures support and financial assistance for those living in cities in conflict. While studying Environmental Science at the University of Sydney she became interested in issues such as food sovereignty and poverty alleviation and went on to conduct further studies with the University of Indonesia. She has worked overseas extensively, most recently volunteering as a teacher for six months with A Drop in the Ocean in Nea Kavala refugee camp in Greece. Kathryn first started working with the International Communities Organisation as a volunteer but she was so inspired by their work she has now joined the FCT Network Fund to manage their campaigns.