Prof. Dr. Stacey L. Connaughton Appointed Editor-in-Chief of Peace Studies

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Stacey L. Connaughton has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Peace Studies (ISSN: 3042-6529).

Peace Studies is an international, cross-disciplinary, scholarly, open access journal that covers both the theory and practice of conflict resolution, peacebuilding, peacemaking, mediation, reconciliation, and transitional justice, along with related topics such as human rights and sustainable development, all framed in direct connection to peace. The journal is dedicated to publishing research that advances the field, catalyzing new ways of thinking, knowing, and doing. It embraces multidisciplinary, meta-theoretical, and theoretical approaches to the study and pursuit of lasting peace worldwide, welcoming manuscripts that contribute new knowledge, offer critiques of the field, or reflect data-driven, evidence-based practice.

Prof. Dr. Stacey L. Connaughton (PhD, The University of Texas at Austin) is a Professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University and the Director of the Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI) in Purdue’s Discovery Park. Her research focuses on leadership and multi-stakeholder organizing, most recently in the context of political violence prevention initiatives. As Director of the Purdue Peace Project (PPP), Dr. Connaughton has led multi-stakeholder relationship building, project development, and participatory monitoring and evaluation for locally led political violence prevention initiatives in Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria. In these efforts, she has collaborated closely with media organizations, governments, private sectors, NGOs, civil societies, and community members—both those who affect violence and those affected by it. From this work, she has developed the Local Leadership Model of political violence prevention and the Relationally Attentive Approach to engaged scholarship, fostering academic–practitioner collaborations. Central to all of her work is inspiring everyday citizens to become critical thinkers, problem solvers, effective communicators, and leaders as they work together to address issues in their communities.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Stacey L. Connaughton as our Editor-in-Chief and look forward to her leadership and contributions to the continued success of Peace Studies.