Elisa Tarnaala

Elisa Tarnaala is Senior Adviser at the CMI Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation and member of the Nordic Women Mediators. She holds the title of Docent of Social History at the University of Helsinki, is Vice Chairperson of the Finnish 1325 Network, and a former member of the NATO Civil Society Advisory Panel (CSAP) on Women, Peace and Security.

She has close to 30 years of experience in engaging in participative projects with peace activists, memory collectives in conflict-affected communities, victims’ organizations, teachers, youth groups, and former armed group members.

She has been grant researcher of academic foundations, senior analyst in research centres, and consulted for international organizations (UN, EU, OAS, AU) and NGOs (IDEA, ICTJ, IRG) on themes of democracy, conflicts, human rights, women’s participation and gender.

She has a PhD in Political Science and History from the New School for Social Research, New York.