Since 2020, the Institute hosts up to two postdoctoral fellows for yearlong research and teaching residencies. This competitive fellowship attracts applicants from around the world with PhDs in a variety of academic fields, and a strong documented interest in and potential for significant work in atrocity prevention that bridges the divide between academic research and prevention practice.
Academic Year 2024-2025
Sellah King'oro
EMAIL: skingoro@binghamton.edu
Sellah King'oro is a peace and conflict analyst, mediator and gender expert who has contributed to reconciliation/dialogue processes among communities in parts of East and West Africa. Prior to coming to Binghamton, she served as the Head of Research, Policy and Planning Department of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission in Kenya where she worked for over nine years. She has also served as a researcher at Development Policy Management Forum, a Programme Officer at Peace and Development Network, and a chairperson of the Conflict Analysis Group at the National Steering Committee of Peace Building and Conflict Management in the office of the president (Kenya). Sellah holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from Kisii University and two post graduate diplomas from Bradford University, UK and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
She is a Rotary Peace Fellow and a Chevening Fellow. Sellah was appointed as the Global Peace Index ambassador in 2015 by the Institute for Economics and Peace, USA following her effort in leading the development of the 2013 social cohesion index for Kenya. She is also the past president of Rotary District 9212 Alumni Association which covers Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Paula Mantilla-Blanco
EMAIL: pmantillabla@binghamton.edu
Paula Mantilla-Blanco is a comparative education scholar focusing on education in
crisis, conflict, and post-conflict contexts. Her work examines the role of formal
and non-formal sites of education in teaching about and amid violence, and engaging
youth in peacebuilding processes. Paula’s current research centers youth voices to
analyze state-sponsored memory sites, such as museums and memorials, and how they
contribute to shaping memories of conflict and expectations for the future in Colombia,
her home country. She draws on mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) data from
multiple stakeholders, including students, teachers, memory site staff, pedagogues,
curators, representatives from victims’ organizations, and others. Paula received
her PhD in Comparative and International Education with a disciplinary focus in Sociology
from Columbia University. Her research has been funded by the National Academy of
Education (NA/Ed) Spencer Fellowship and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
Peace Scholar Fellowship, among others. Her recent publications have been featured
in Comparative Education Review and the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.
Samira Marty
EMAIL: smarty@binghamton.edu
Samira Marty is a social and political anthropologist interested in political and state violence, conflict, and transnational solidarity. Samira’s research interests span a wide range of topics, including the historical repertoires of political protests, transnational solidarity, the mobilization of memory and forgetting, and political violence. To that end, she has conducted extensive fieldwork in and with Central American communities in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Germany to gain a comprehensive understanding of the social and political realities after instances of state violence.
Her dissertation analyzed the political activism that emerged in Berlin after Nicaragua’s
outbreak of violence in April 2018. Based on multi-sited fieldwork in Nicaragua and
Germany, her work demonstrates how political, cultural, and historical linkages have
informed different understandings, interpretations, and solidarity practices. Her
work is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach, drawing upon political theory,
memory studies, history, sociology, and anthropology.
In addition to her research endeavors, she has worked as a political advisor and research
consultant for various Swiss and international organizations.
