Rama Mani

Dr Rama Mani is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Centre for International Studies, a Councillor at the World Future Council.

She is an expert in international peace and security, a poet and performance artist. Based on her extensive experience in governance, justice and security over the past 25 years, she co-founded ‘Rising Women, Rising World’, a global initiative of women leaders committed to co-creating ‘a world that works for all’. She also developed the Theatre of Transformation, as an innovative vehicle for addressing critical global crises.

She Mani was awarded the Excellence in Leadership Award by the Global Thinkers Forum in December 2018, in particular in recognition of the Theatre of Transformation methodology and approach to transformative leadership, justice and peacebuilding.

Dr Mani was formerly the Executive Director of The International Centre for Ethnic Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She served as Director of the Global Peace and Security course at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Senior External Relations Officer at the Commission on Global Governance. Dr Mani was also the Africa Strategy Manager for Oxfam GB.

In 2013 she received the Peter Becker Peace Prize in Germany for the combined impact of her scholarship and peace activism.

Dr Mani has served on the boards of several international organizations, the Academic Council on the United Nations System, the CISH-UNESCO International Centre for Human Sciences, and the Foundation for the Future. She has also advised and collaborated with numerous UN agencies and departments.

Dr Mani has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge, an MA in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in French Literature and Political Science from Bryn Mawr College.