Dr. Esra Çuhadar is an associate professor at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, where she has been teaching since 2006 and is the Head of Research of the Ottawa Dialogue at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She has over three decades of experience researching, teaching, and practicing dialogue facilitation, mediation, and conflict assessment. In 2023, she was selected to join the United Nations standby team of senior mediation advisers as a process design and inclusion expert.
Dr. Çuhadar received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where she also earned an advanced graduate certificate in applied conflict resolution. Her research interests include inclusive peace processes, mediation, track-two diplomacy, the role of civil society in peacebuilding, negotiation pedagogy, and political leadership. She has published close to 5o articles on these topics in top academic journals and book chapters, including Political Psychology, Journal of Peace Research, International Studies Review, and International Studies Perspectives. Dr. Çuhadar has received numerous awards and research grants, including the Young Scientist Award (BAGEP) by the Science Academy in Turkey in 2013, the Jennings Randolph Senior Research Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace (2018), and the Fulbright Senior Scholarship (2011).
Dr. Çuhadar’s extensive career in the mediation field includes serving as a mediation adviser to the United Nations (on the roster since 2024), senior expert on dialogue and inclusion at the United States Institute of Peace (2020-2023), a regional mediator for the World Bank (2011-2020), advisor to the OSCE (ongoing), and a senior research fellow at Inclusive Peace (continued). She has worked with various civil society and governmental actors and supported numerous dialogue and mediation initiatives in conflict areas such as Afghanistan, South Caucasus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cameroon, Venezuela, Cyprus, and between Israel-Palestine, Greece-Turkey, Turkey-Armenia, and Somalia-Somaliland. She is also a member of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network.