STEINAR Bryn
Date, place of birth : 21 August 1954, Oslo, Norway
Nationality: Norwegian
Address: Bekkefaret 8, 2613 Lillehammer, Norway
Tele phone : 00 47 61 26 54 15 (Work) ; 00 47 95 17 48 21 (Mobile) steinar@REMOVEnansen-dialog.no
Present position: Project director of “Dialogue and Peacebuilding” At the Nansen Academy, Lillehammer; Senior Consultant "Nansen Dialogue Network; Lecturer and dialogue facilitator
Social status: Married. Four children.
Education: Ph.D American Studies, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities , 1993
Current occupation:
1996- ongoing Project Director of “Dialogue and Peacebuilding. ”
1999- ongoing Senior Consultant “Nansen Dialogue Network”
2004 spring Visiting professor in "Conflict and Communication", Pacific Luteran University, Tacoma, Washington
As a project director for “Dialogue and Peacebuilding ” my responsibilities have been 1) to select participants (potential leaders) from former Yugoslavia to participate in training programs in Norway, 2) to design the training program and 3) to conduct the seminars. The challenging part of the job has been the follow-up work, which includes dialogue seminars in the region and the ongoing support of ten Nansen Dialogue Centers in Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia.
As Senior Project Consultant - During the years 1997-2005 I have conducted more than 100 dialogue seminars, mainly between Serbs and Albanians from Kosovo and South Serbia, between Macedonians and Albanians from Macedonia, more general dialogue seminars in Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina., but also joint seminars with larger groups – including seminars in Betlehem and Jerusalem with Israelis, Arabs and Palestinians.
Extensive lists of publications and lectures at conferences in Europe and the United States.
Visiting lecturer at University of Texas, Austin, University of Washington, Seattle, Georgetown University, Washington DC, Amherst University, Massachusetts, Columbia University, New York, Concordia College, Fargo, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, St.Olaf College, Minnesota, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, Univeristy of North Dakota,Grand Forks.
AWARDS:
1998 The Nansen Academy received the Honourable Mention of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, in recognition of its outstanding contribution to the promotion of peace and tolerance.
1999 Received Amalie Laksow ’s Human Rights Prize
2004 Bridgebuilder Prize for 2004.

AMANDA Elizabeth Feller
was born in the United States in the west coast city of Portland, Oregon.
As an undergraduate she attended the University of Denver on a debate scholarship and studied political theatre. From there she received an M.S. in Communication at Portland State University. Her master’s thesis focused on theory construction regarding democratic tools and transformation. This degree was followed by two degrees from the California Institute of Integral Studies: an M.A. in Human and Organizational Change and a Ph.D. in Transformative Learning and Change.

Throughout the past fifteen years she has applied her scholarship to a variety of work:

• Communication consulting for local businesses and private individuals, ranging from employee-management relationship building for a small technical company to public speaking and meeting management instruction for the leader of a city symphony.
• Educating students to be national and international speech champions, including the 2002 International Debate Education Association’s Tournament held in Romania
• Leading a London, U.K. based program on the role of the arts
• Teaching a college course on the relationship of rhetoric and poetics to political and cultural development including visits to Athens, Rome, and London.
• Facilitating audience discussion following politically dynamic theatre productions
• Working with various organizations to provide mentorship for college students interested in fields such as journalism, conflict mediation, arts management, public relations, and communication consulting.

While diverse, her work centers on the role of expression in cultural and political dynamics, with a special emphasis on individual communication style and habits. She currently teaches undergraduates at Pacific Lutheran University located in Tacoma, Washington, U.S.

Contact information:
Email: fellerae@REMOVEplu.edu
Fax: 252-536-5063
Phone: 253-535-7768
Address: Ingram Hall 125
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
USA

VESNA Matović
Vesna Matovic was born in Zagreb, Croatia, and now lives in Belgrade. She graduated on the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade where she also gained her MA. She specialised in clinical psychology at the Faculty of Medicine.

She has been engaged in NGO activities from the early nineties, first on psychosocial programmes, and later on in the field of conflict transformation. She has worked at the Nansen Dialogue Centre in Serbia since 1999 as project coordinator on different programmes. She has experience in working in different conflict regions in Africa and Middle East, and experience in working with international groups on courses run by RTC in UK.

Vesna is the ACTS programme coordinator for the Balkans.

Elton SKENDAJ
Education:
- University of Cornell, Ithaca, New York (August 2005-present); PhD student, expected completion 2010.
- University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, (2000 – 2001); Master of Arts in International Peace Studies.
Teaching Experience:
- Graduate Teaching Assistant in the course “Introduction to Peace Studies” at Cornell University. (Fall 2006)
- Adjunct Faculty Lecturer at the University of Tirana. Taught courses on “Introduction to Political Science,” “Political Philosophy” and “Conflict Resolution” (2001- 2005)
Work Experience:
- Founder and executive director of the Center for Peace and Disarmament Education (CPDE), Tirana, Albania, http://www.cpde.net (August 2003-July 2005)
- National Project Coordinator for the joint project between UN Department for Disarmament Affairs and Hague Appeal for Peace on “Peace and Disarmament Education to Disarm Children and Youth”. Tirana, Albania. (July 2002-February 2005.)
Recent Publication:
- Contributed to the report ‘The rifle has the devil inside,’ Gun Culture in South Eastern Europe, SEESAC, May 2006. http://www.csd.bg/fileSrc.php?id=1908

SINIŠA Bjeković
Sinisa Bjekovic was born in Pljevlja (Montenegro), graduating at Law Faculty of University of Montenegro in 1987. The very beginning of his professional experience was at the Public Revenue Agency of Montenegro where he worked as a law clerk for a year. Since 1991 till 2000 he worked at the Institute for Development and Safety at Work Researches as the Head of Administration and Legal Adviser in researching programs, when after he came to University of Montenegro Human Rights Center (Recently Law Faculty Human Rights Center) where he works now.

The main research activities he performed were in the field of human rights, where the most of his works were concerned to the issues suchlike the concept of ESC rights, institutional protection of HR, compatibility of the Montenegrin Law with the European law standards, thought, conscience and belief, minorities, torture and children rights.

During the last ten years he published several books and many articles concerning issue of human rights standards and practice in Montenegro.

Languages: English and Italian, fluently

ERIK Cleven
was born in the United States in 1965.
He received a BA from St. Olaf College in Minnesota in 1987 and a MSc from the University of Oslo in 1992.
For the last 12 years he has been involved in dialogue and peacebuilding work and has held seminars on peacebuilding, conflict management and human rights in Russia, the North Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Great Britain, Denmark and the United States.
He has led a project to facilitate dialogue between Chechen and Russian civil society actors and has also been involved in interethnic dialogue work in the former Yugoslavia.
In the last two years he has been lecturing in peace studies in colleges and universities in Norway and the United States and was in 2004 and 2005 Kloeck-Jensen Visiting Assistant Professor for Peace and Justice at St. Olaf College.
He works for the Nansen Dialogue Network and is based at the Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, Norway, where he lives with his wife and four children.