Dr. Violet Benneker is Senior Academy Fellow specializing in political dialogue, negotiations and mediation. She has extensive experience working with mediators, facilitators, diplomats, military personnel and politicians. She facilitates and develops trainings for Clingendael’s open registration and bespoke portfolio as well as the peace negotiations programme.
Concurrently, at Leiden University she leads the master’s course ‘Political dialogue for conflict resolution and stable governance,’ equipping future practitioners with both theoretical frameworks and field-ready tools.
Violet’s career is characterized by combining a robust track record in academic scholarship with elaborate hands-on practitioner engagement. Violet earned her PhD at Leiden University with a dissertation examining contested human rights and political-economic dynamics in Jordan, exploring the conditions under which political dialogues contribute to improved rights implementation.
Before joining Clingendael, Violet worked as the lead expert for a dialogue support organization. In this role, she developed the organization’s dialogue methodology and knowledge management processes. In addition, she advised and trained stakeholders engaged in political dialogue processes in a range of contexts — including in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia (Somaliland), Uganda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guatemala, and the Dutch Caribbean.
