About

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Working at the nexus between research and practice, the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program is comprised of researchers and practitioners seeking to promote and facilitate a higher order of integration between these domains. The PAM program is home to the largest existing collection of implementation data on intrastate peace agreements, and PAM team members regularly provide research support to ongoing peace processes on issues of peace agreement design and implementation.

The PAM database is a unique source of qualitative and quantitative longitudinal data on the implementation of 34 Comprehensive Peace Agreements (CPAs) negotiated between 1989 and 2012. Drawing on this world class, peer-reviewed database, PAM researchers have developed a quantitative methodology to track the progress of peace accord implementation. The PAM database serves as a valuable tool for analysis, which the Kroc Institute uses to support the negotiation and implementation of peace accords, including the implementation of the Colombian peace accord.

The Team

The PAM team consists of faculty, staff, consultants and student researchers at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

Josefina Echavarría Álvarez

Dr. Josefina Echavarría Alvarez is an Associate Professor of the Practice and the director of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs.

As the director of PAM, Josefina leads the Barometer Initiative in Colombia, which carries out official monitoring of implementation of the 2016 Final Agreement between the government and the former FARC-EP. She also directs the Legacy Project, which guarantees continued access to more than 200,000 files compiled by the Colombian Truth Commission.

Josefina earned her Ph.D. in Peace, Conflict, and Democracy from the Jaume I University (Spain), an M.A. in Peace, Development, Security and International Conflict Transformation from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and a B.A. in Government and International Relations from the University Externado (Colombia).

Madhav Joshi

Madhav Joshi is Research Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute and Associate Director of the Peace Accords Matrix. His research focuses on peace agreement design, implementation, and post-civil war peacebuilding. He has published on these topics in leading social science journals. He is co-editor of Understanding Quality Peace (with Peter Wallensteen, Routledge, 2018).

Omar Al Jamal

Omar Al Jamal is the Peace Accords Matrix Program Coordinator. He earned a Master’s Degree in Romance Languages and Literatures from Notre Dame, where he researched social movements, protest art, trauma, state terror, and re-democratization in the Southern Cone. As a professional translator, copyeditor, copywriter, and indexer, he has worked in advertising and branding and, primarily, with international scholars and political scientists, academic journals, and publishers.

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John Paul Lederach

John Paul Lederach is Senior Advisor to the PAM Barometer Initiative, and Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute. Widely known for his pioneering work in conflict transformation, Lederach is involved in conciliation work in Colombia, the Philippines, and Nepal, plus countries in East and West Africa. He is author of 22 books, including The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Jason Quinn

Jason Quinn is Associate Professor of Political Science and a Senior Researcher with the Peace Accords Matrix. Quinn researches civil war, with a special focus on peace agreement design and implementation. He has published on these topics in International Studies QuarterlyBritish Journal of Political ScienceJournal of Conflict ResolutionJournal of Peace ResearchNegotiation JournalInternational Interactions, International Studies Perspectives, and other outlets.

Laurel Quinn

Laurel Quinn is Associate Director of Operations and Policy for the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, where she manages operations for several grant and research projects for the PAM program and the Colombia Barometer Initiative. She is co-editor of the volume Civil Society, Peace, and Power (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), and she holds a master’s degree from the Seton Hall School of Diplomacy and International Relations.

Cristian Sáez Flórez

Cristian Sáez Flórez is a Peace Accords Matrix Research Associate and holds a degree from the Keough School Masters of Global Affairs, with a concentration in International Peace Studies. As part of his studies, he interned in the Missing Migrants and DNA program with the Colibrí Center for Human Rights. Cristian previously worked as a junior specialist with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies’ Barometer Project in Colombia, and served as a research assistant at the Museo Casa de la Memoria de Medellín.

Carolina Serrano Idrovo

Carolina Serrano Idrovo is a Peace Accords Matrix Research Associate and holds an M.A. in International Peace Studies from the Kroc Institute, a B.A. in Political Science from the Universidad de los Andes, and a Specialization in Social Evaluation of Projects from the same University. She previously served as a researcher for Colombian think-tank Fundación Ideas para la Paz and the International Organization for Migrations in Bogotá focusing on the reintegration process of former combatants. 

Allison Kielhold

Allison Kielhold is a Peace Accords Matrix Research Associate and is a 2022 graduate of the Universidad de los Andes M.A. in Peacebuilding and M.A. in International Law. Her graduate research focused on the gender perspective in international law as related to conflict and peace, as well as the gender perspective in the 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP.She has also worked with the Inter-American Commission of Women at the Organization of American States on their efforts to advance the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the Americas and move beyond traditional concepts of security in order to better address the complex challenges facing women in the region.

Melinda Davis

Melinda Davis is a Peace Accords Matrix Research Associate and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame.

Jena O’Brien

Jena O’Brien is the Communication and Digital Media Specialist for the Peace Accord Matrix (PAM) program. She is responsible for the program’s public relations, graphic design, photography, videography, and podcast production. Jena graduated from Arkansas State University in 2022 with an M.S. in Strategic Communications and a B.A. in Public Relations from Bluffton (Ohio) University in 2019.