Expert Team: Staff

Thomas J. Bimba is IFIT’s Nigeria Country Manager.

Prior to joining IFIT in 2020, Thomas worked on various projects with GIZ, Search For Common Ground, Mercy Corps, and Mennonite Economic Development Associates in Northern Nigeria. Specifically, he worked with Mercy Corps on community reconciliation and joint economic projects amongst divided communities (farmer-pastoralist conflicts) and an inter-religious peacebuilding project in Northern Nigeria empowering the religious, community, youth, and women leaders to resolve intra- and inter-community conflicts. With Search for Common Ground, he worked on building a community-led peace architecture that involves diverse stakeholders from communities, businesses, security, and government. Most recently, with Mennonite Economic Development Associates, he worked on youth and women-led agro-entrepreneurship, processing, and market systems.

An entrepreneur at heart, Thomas has an interest in entrepreneurs as peacebuilders. He has experience working in the private sector setting up an agro-processing business. In his spare time, he works on the Irish potato value chain by growing, processing and improving the Irish potatoes market system in Nigeria. 

Thomas has a Bachelor’s degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from Manchester University.

Working languages: English and Hausa

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Dr. Jasmina Brankovic is Senior Research Specialist at the Institute for Integrated Transitions, Spain, and Senior Research Adviser at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, South Africa. Her research interests include narrative approaches to conflict management, socioeconomic transformation, climate justice, and civil society strategies for social change in transitional contexts, with a focus on participatory methods.

Jasmina is the co-author of Violence, Inequality and Transformation: Apartheid Survivors on South Africa’s Ongoing Transition (2020) and The Global Climate Regime and Transitional Justice (2018) and the co-editor of Advocating Transitional Justice in Africa: The Role of Civil Society (2018). She is the Senior Research Specialist at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, South Africa, and the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. Jasmina has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Marburg.

Areas of expertise: transitional justice, violence prevention, climate justice, civil society strategies, participatory research, learning, monitoring and evaluation, Africa.

Working languages: English

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Céline Castet serves as the Finance Director at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) where she has been working since 2017. She has extensive experience in financial administration (including financial accounting, monitoring and reporting systems), especially in the non-profit sector. She began her career with Jaume 2/20, where as the Office Manager she was responsible for managing day-to-day finances and office matters. She also worked as an Executive Assistant at the international company Arkas Spain, and has extensive experience in volunteering and in the leadership of social initiatives in multiple international and culturally-diverse settings.

Céline holds a Master’s degree in Financial Management and Management Control from EAE Business School. She also has a BA in Social Work from the University of Barcelona.

Working languages: English, Spanish, French and Catalan

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Dana Habib is an Associate at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), working primarily on the Institute’s Middle East projects. She coordinates IFIT’s Brain Trust in Syria (SRG) and is part of the core team leading the Global Initiative on Polarization. Previously, Dana volunteered as a researcher at ASYLOS as part of its MENA research team, conducting research to substantiate asylum-seeker claims in court. Prior to that, she worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees field office in Alexandria as part of the legal protection team responsible for the facilitation of legal interventions and protection of refugees residing in Egypt. 

She has a BA in Political Science from The American University in Cairo and an MA in Human Rights from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Religion, Human Values, and International Relations at the Dublin City University.

Working languages: Arabic and English

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Blanca Manresa Farreras serves as Head of Human Resources and Compliance at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT).

She brings over seven years of professional experience as a private-sector lawyer in Barcelona. Prior to joining IFIT, Blanca worked as Legal Advisor and Multilateral Organisations Officer at the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, a governmental body, where she was responsible for coordinating the organisation’s activities and programmes with various UN agencies. She also previously served as an International Officer specialising in development and gender issues at the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Argentina.

Blanca holds a law degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Development Cooperation from the Centre for International Studies of Barcelona (CIDOB), a Diploma in Human Rights from the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia (IDHC), a Diploma in Mediation from Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, and a Diploma in NGO Management from ESADE Business School.

Working languages: English, Spanish, and Catalan

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Alejandro Urrutia is a Senior Associate at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) with extensive experience in dialogue design, negotiation processes, and conflict resolution across complex political environments.

At IFIT, he leads a diverse portfolio of initiatives, including the Initiative on Apex Court Appointments (IACA), the Security Engagement Practice Group (SEPG), and the institute’s in-country programming in Zimbabwe. 

His work focuses on developing innovative approaches to conflict resolution, including the use of partial agreements, dialogue options with state security actors, and bottom-up dialogue tools and methodologies.

Alejandro has worked across a wide range of contexts, including Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Libya, Uzbekistan, Spain, and the United States.

He holds a BA in History from Boston University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. 

Originally from Mexico City, he currently resides in Innsbruck.

Working languages: Spanish and English

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Mariana Valderrama Arriola is a Research Associate and Project Lead of the Brain Trust for the Colombian Transition at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), based in Bogotá.

She holds a BA in Political Science with an emphasis on conflict resolution and peacebuilding from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and a master’s degree in Peacebuilding from Universidad de los Andes. She has also completed coursework on Women, Equity, and Empowerment at Universidad de Salamanca.

Mariana has over five years of experience working in peacebuilding, social development, and the nonprofit sector. She previously served as a Programme Officer at Operation Smile Foundation, where she focused on fundraising, and grant acquisition. She also worked at the Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del Magdalena Medio, supporting processes for the reparation of victims of enforced disappearance through life-story reconstruction and community engagement with local leaders.

Working languages: English and Spanish 

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Seth D. Kaplan is a leading expert on fragile states, societies, and communities.

He is Senior Adviser for IFIT, a Professorial Lecturer in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and consultant to multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, U.S. State Department, and OECD as well as developing country governments and NGOs.

His latest book, Fragile Neighborhoods, offers a bold new vision for addressing social decline in America, one zip code at a time.

Areas of expertise: fragile states, fragile societies, fragile communities, neighbourhoods, social cohesion, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, political transitions, polarisation, social innovation, systems thinking, China.

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Mark Freeman is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT). 

A leading expert in political transitions and high-level peace negotiations with more than 30 years of experience, Mr Freeman is regularly consulted for advice on crisis management and conflict resolution. He has worked in countries including Ukraine, Venezuela, Colombia, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Bosnia, Burundi, DRC, The Gambia, El Salvador, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Nepal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Zimbabwe. 

Prior to founding IFIT, Mr. Freeman was Chief of External Relations at the International Crisis Group. He also helped launch the International Center for Transitional Justice and served as its first Director of International Affairs. Before that, he worked at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York and as a corporate lawyer in Toronto.

A recognised thought leader in international law and human rights, Mr. Freeman is the co-author of Negotiating Transitional Justice (Cambridge, 2020), which draws upon his years as an adviser inside the Colombian peace talks in Havana. He is also the author of Necessary Evils: Amnesties and the Search for Justice (Cambridge, 2010) and Truth Commissions and Procedural Fairness (Cambridge, 2006), and the co-author of International Human Rights Law: Essentials of Canadian Law (Irwin Law, 2004).

Mr. Freeman holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, a Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, and a Master of Laws from Columbia Law School where he was a Human Rights Fellow and James Kent Scholar. He has been a Lecturer-in-Law at KU Leuven and the University of Ottawa, and a Visiting Professor at Queen’s University Faculty of Law.

Mr. Freeman is a Paris Institute for Advanced Study Fellow, a Salzburg Global Fellow, a member of the International Panel of Experts of the International Commission on Missing Persons, and an Advisor to the International Strategy Forum. A Canadian and Belgian citizen, he speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and Catalan.

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Martha Maya is the Deputy Global Director at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) and the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. She has been with IFIT since 2017. Her work places a strong emphasis on reducing polarisation, fostering dialogue, and advancing regional knowledge exchange to strengthen democracies and address structural challenges.

With nearly two decades of experience in public policy, negotiation, and transitional justice, Martha has served across key sectors of the Colombian government, including security, defence, foreign affairs, and the Office of the Presidency. During the peace process between the Government of Colombia and the FARC guerrillas, she was Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Interior and later at the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, acting as the official liaison in Havana for the agenda item on political participation. Earlier in her career, she also worked in Colombia for the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP) during crucial national junctures on conflict and transition.

Martha previously worked as a journalist and researcher at La Silla Vacía and she has published opinion pieces in the New York Times, El País, and El Tiempo. She is a lawyer and graduate of Universidad de los Andes, with advanced studies in law and public policy, and she holds a master’s degree in Law and Economics (LL.M / MSc).

Working languages: Spanish, English, and French

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