Kate Fearon

 Kate Fearon was a founder member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, a member of its Talks Negotiations Team from 1996-1998, in the Northern Ireland peace process and as Chief of Staff in the inaugural Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998-2001. Thereafter she worked on implementing the Dayton Accords for the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on implementing the Ahtisaari Plan for the International Civilian Office in Kosovo.  

She has also worked for the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions in Kosovo (EULEX) and in Georgia (EUMM), and has experience of the missions in Ramallah, Rafah, Somalia, Ukraine, Niger, Iraq and Libya from her work in the civilian headquarters of the CSDP missions in Brussels. She is currently Deputy Director of the OSCE’s Conflict Prevention Centre, where she is responsible for South Eastern Europe, South Caucuses, Central Asia and Eastern Europe Desks.  

She is the author of two books (Women’s Work: The Story of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition; and City of Soldiers: A Year of Life and Death in Afghanistan) as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles on conflict resolution, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and on rule of law and democratization.