Dr. Joyce Neu is Founder and Senior Associate of Facilitating Peace, a consulting network that assists in the analysis, prevention, and resolution of armed conflict through its work with parties to the conflict, civil society, international NGOs, and governmental and intergovernmental organizations. Joyce has focused on women’s participation and gender inclusion in peace processes for over 15 years. She co-created the Women PeaceMakers Program while Executive Director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego and prior to that, as Senior Associate Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, Joyce facilitated discussions among Sudanese women from different political parties and civil society to assist in creating the joint North-South “Sudanese Women’s Agenda for Peace.

Joyce was the first Team Leader for the United Nations’ Standby Team of Mediation Experts, advising Special Advisors and Envoys of the UN Secretary-General on peace processes in Central African Republic, Comoros, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia.  At The Carter Center, she advised former President Jimmy Carter on conflicts in more than two dozen countries and led mediation efforts in Congo (Brazzaville), Mali, and Sudan and Uganda. Joyce has a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Southern California and has published on conflict resolution, negotiations, sociolinguistics, and international war crimes tribunals. She has taught at the University of Southern California, Penn State University, Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznan, Poland), Emory University, and the University of San Diego. She was a senior Fulbright scholar in Poland and a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.