As of January 2023, Tim has been directing the day-to-day research of the PeaceRep programme, informed by his background in mediation and peace process practice and research.
From his recent work with the UN on stabilisation and local peace processes, Tim brings experience of strategic planning and knowledge management to his role with PeaceRep.
Tim Epple joins PeaceRep as Managing Director
PeaceRep team members are delighted to welcome Tim Epple to the programme as its new Managing Director.
Tim works at the intersection of mediation and peace process practice and research, drawing on experience in the public and private sectors and academia. and to promote the use of evidence in mediation and peacebuilding programming. In 2019-2020, Tim worked with several current members of the PeaceRep team as part of the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP) – PeaceRep’s predecessor programme – as a Research Associate working on the PA-X Peace Agreements Database, and particularly PA-X Local.
For the past two years, Tim lived in Juba, South Sudan, where he worked as an Associate Strategic Planning Officer with the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Reconciliation, Stabilisation, and Resilience in South Sudan (RSRTF), a joint initiative of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Country Team in South Sudan. The RSRTF is piloting an innovative whole-of-system and highly localised approach to stabilisation and peacebuilding. The Fund invests in locally driven area-based programmes that tackle the root causes of conflict and address immediate conflict triggers. These programmes build on local peace processes and seek to support the implementation of sub-national peace agreements, such as the Marial Bai peace agreement or the Pieri peace agreement. In his role with the RSRTF, Tim led on strategic planning, knowledge management and learning efforts, feeding insights from PSRP into the Fund’s local peace process support work.
Tim has published on local peacemaking, state responses to social unrest, and the role of the media in peace agreements[*]. His current research focuses on the relationship between climate change and peacemaking.
Tim takes up this new role in support of Professor Christine Bell as Executive Director, and the wider PeaceRep consortium and organisational leads in delivering on PeaceRep research goals. Tim is managing the day-to-day research direction of PeaceRep as of January 2023, in accordance with the ideas and goals set out at the heart of the programme.
[*] References