About

Gabrielle Rifkind works behind-the-scenes to ripen the conditions for peace-making in conflict. Rather than search for an elusive common ground, her theory of peacemaking is based on helping parties manage radical differences without violence. Her current focus is the Ukraine / Russia and Palestine / Israel wars.

In 2016, Rifkind founded Oxford Process, an independent mediation organization working with groups in armed conflict to identify opportunities to prevent escalation, reduce tension, and create pathways to peace.

Rifkind is an accomplished public communicator and has showcased her innovative methods for conflict resolution through public lectures on peacemaking, and a debate at the Oxford Union. She is one of two conflict mediators regularly featured on BBC Radio 4’s Across the Red Line.

An energetic and committed woman, Gabrielle Rifkind is also an artist and writer. As a painter, she explores themes such as living in the paradox, living together imperfectly, and what artificial intelligence will mean for the human face.

Rifkind has written for numerous journals and newspapers, including the New England Journal of Public Policy, The Times, Guardian, and Independent. She is the author of The Psychology of Political Extremism (2018), and co-author, with peace activist Scilla Elworthy, of Making Terrorism History (2005) and, with former senior UN diplomat Giandomenico Picco, of The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution (2014).

Rifkind is currently working on her fourth book for a more popular audience, Uncommon Ground; from conflict to communication. She will make a public case for greater investment in conflict prevention and resolution in an upcoming main-stage TED Talk, ‘Why we need to Prevent War’, in April 2024.