Dr Scilla Elworthy
Founder, Peace Direct
Scilla Elworthy PhD founded the Oxford Research Group in 1982 to develop effective dialoguebetween nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics, work which included a seriesof dialogues between Chinese, Russian and western nuclear scientists and military, for which shehas been three times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She founded Peace Direct in 2002 to fund, promote and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas; Peace Direct was voted ‘Best New Charity’ in 2005. Scilla was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003, and was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Richard Branson in setting up ‘The Elders’.
She recently co-founded Rising Women Rising World, advises the leadership of selected international corporations and teaches young social entrepreneurs; her TED talk on non violence has been viewed by over 800,000 people: Fighting with non-violence