Moderator: Marta Martinelli

Marta Martinelli is head of the EU external relations team for the Open Society European Policy Institute, where she oversees policy development and EU advocacy within the institute. She is also responsible for work on gender, democratization, security governance, and development issues in Africa. She joined the Open Society Foundations in May 2010. Previously, Martinelli worked in Kinshasa for the European Union mission for Security Sector Reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From 2005 to 2009, she advised the Belgian Directorate General for Development on peace-building policies in the Great Lakes Region. Martinelli has advised the European Commission, the European Parliament, the UNDP, and UNIFEM on gender, peace support operations, and security system reform in Burundi, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Martinelli’s academic career includes holding a Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies at the Free University of Brussels, and teaching at the Institute of International Sociology in Gorizia (Italy) and at the UNESCO Chair for Peaceful Conflict Resolution and Human Rights in Bujumbura (Burundi). In Brussels, she serves as an adviser to the European Institute of Peace, the European Network for Central Africa, and Save the Children and is an active member of Women in International Security. She holds a PhD in conflict resolution and a MA in international politics and security studies from the Department of Peace Studies in Bradford (United Kingdom) as well as a BA in diplomacy and international relations from the University of Trieste (Italy). She is fluent in English, French, and Italian.