Erin McCandless is seasoned academic and policy advisor with three decades experience
across 25 countries working to advance inclusive and transformative political settlements and
sustainable peace, the peace-development, humanitarian (and now climate) nexus, the Global
South and movements to established a more principled world order, and empowered civil
societies in crisis, conflict, and fragile contexts. She currently serves as Acting Director of the
Qatar-South Africa Centre for Peace and Intercultural Understanding at the University of
Johannesburg and Senior Fellow with the Politics Department and Centre for Mediation in
Africa at the University of Pretoria. Prof McCandless’ most recent academic posts were as
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Value at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Spring,
2024), and Associate Professor at the School of Governance, University of Witwatersrand
(2018-2022). Her expertise includes leading multi-stakeholder applied research, facilitating
strategic processes, conducting training programmes, and advising senior policymakers in
collaboration with UN agencies, international organisations, and civil society.
