Marike Blunck holds an MSc in ‘Violence, Conflict and Development’ from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Following her degree she gained practical experience through the Quaker Peace and Social Witness ‘Peaceworker’ Program, working for the international advocacy organisation Crisis Action in London. Her work focused on the conflicts in Israel/Palestine and Afghanistan. She also worked for CSSP – Berlin Center for Integrative Mediation in Berlin. During her year with Mercator, she will be looking at multi-track peace mediation as a tool to foster participatory political processes in post-conflict settings.