emmacambodia@gmail.com
Dr Emma Leslie, an Australian Cambodian, has worked on conflict transformation and peacebuilding throughout Asia since 1993. She is a Co-Founder and Steering Committee Member of the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators (SEAWPM), a group of leading women mediators dedicated to advancing inclusive peace processes and mediation efforts across Southeast Asia and beyond.
Emma is the co-founder of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, a Cambodian NGO accompanying peace negotiations and conflict transformation processes in the Asia region. She has taught mediation and dialogue to United Nations personnel for over a decade at the Swedish government’s Folke Bernadotte Academy; and is a long-standing consultant to Conciliation Resources on Philippines and Bougainville.
As a member of the International Contact Group (ICG), Emma supported the Philippine Government–Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace talks for over a decade, culminating in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014. She has been actively engaged in the Myanmar peace talks processes for 25 years, generating deep analysis, convening, briefing, and facilitating dialogues between key conflict actors. She has made numerous peace missions to North Korea and accompanies several non-state actors and liberation groups in negotiation strategy.
Emma had previously led the inception of the regional peacebuilding network Action Asia, developed MA and Ph.D. programs in Applied Conflict Transformation Studies (ACTS) at Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, and launched a Peace Museum for Cambodia in 2019. Emma holds the title of Member of the Order of Australia (AM), an MA in International Development, and an Honorary Doctorate in Education.
