Our Team
Liska Blodett
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Liska Blodgett is a Real Estate Developer in Austria and the United States and she has an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France). Previously to that, Liska learned 6 languages in France, Spain, Germany, USA, Israel, and Japan. Her native language is Czech. Her travels and studies took her around the world many times and she was struck how we are all the same and that there is really a global Culture for Peace, in times where we see the Military Industrial Complex profiting from War, Defense Spending, Military Budgets and Military Turmoil Worldwide. |
Katie Davidson
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Katie is a a peace maker in Crested Butte, Colorado. She grew up in the midwest, but was attracted to the Gunnison Valley for it’s unique sense of community bounded together by love for the beautiful surroundings. After attending Western State Colorado University she moved up valley to Crested Butte where she is putting her passions of community, and integrity to work at Peace Museum Colorado. |
Kirin Taylor
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Kirin Taylor is pursuing a combined BA/MA degree in Government and Politics, with minors in Social Justice Theory, Sociology, and International Studies at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. Kirin trained as a peace educator with the Maryland, USA-based nonprofit Little Friends for Peace since age 11, moving into a leadership role at a young age, and an administrative position coordinating summer peace camps, and both delivering and developing programming, at age 19. Now she serves as a peace ambassador for LFFP, spreading their mission, while engaging in other work in NYC; currently she is working on research and interning at the Congregation of the Mission at the United Nations. She has also spent time working for the Homes for the Homeless Youth program and as a caseworker to aid vulnerable populations in receiving legal documents at St. John’s Bread and Life. She spent a year in Austria learning German and spent the fall of 2016 in Rome, each helping her to develop her working theory of cultural exchange being a path to peace. Her support for Peace Museum Vienna includes consulting. |
Robert Blodgett
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Robert is completing his Master in Philosophy at the University of Vienna. Peace means poverty elimination. Peace means everyone having access to the objects of human rights. Human rights such as the right to have a certain quality of life which allows for satisfactory level of well-being for one’s self and one’s family, are absolutely essential to peace, and the elimination of poverty is essential to these rights. Thomas Pogge says poverty is like slavery, there either exists poverty or there does not, reducing poverty in this sense is then not an option; poverty must be eliminated. Peace, then, does not consist in half-measured efforts but in the total elimination of poverty, and the promotion of human rights. Once we eliminate poverty and ensure everyone has access to the objects of human rights, war is over. This is not some pie in the sky dream. Pogge estimates that if society’s very richest members just relinquished 2% of their wealth, poverty would be fully eliminated. Not only is this attainable, it’s readily and immediately attainable “if we want it”. Peace isn’t a dream, it’s our only hope.” |
Peter Van Den Dungen
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Peter van den Dungen, the head and General Coordinator of the International Network of Museums for Peace, who is himself a Professor in peace studies with experience opening over 10 peace museums, joined the project in September 2013, as a volunteer. He will be able to give valuable input to the development of the museum and share his experiences in running other museums. |
Navin K Jungali
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He is a Nepalese Artist/Painter/Sculptor and peace activist, Founder/President of Peace Museum Nepal and director of ENMP. Born in 1978 in Ilam, Nepal. From 2009 to 2015 he has worked in Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Government of Nepal. He is member of Peace Museum Vienna and Peace Museum Colorado. |
Jackie Bonasia
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Jackie is a rising senior at Colorado College and she is from Needham, Massachusetts. She studies history and philosophy and is passionate about acting to make a positive change in the world. During the summer of 2017, Jackie was an activist and canvasser for a company called Grassroots Campaigns and helped to raise money for organizations such as ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Doctors Without Borders in New Orleans, Louisiana. When she heard about the opportunity to assist with efforts at the Bertha von Suttner Peace Institute in The Hague, and Peace Museum Vienna, she knew she had to contribute. She is very excited to be working with Peace Museum President, Liska Blodgett, and other interns from around the world to promote world peace and those who have dedicated their lives to the cause. Jackie was very glad to assist with the celebrations surrounding the 175th anniversary of Bertha von Suttner at the historic Peace Palace in The Hague this past June. She is also eager to help with the Windows for Peace project in Vienna, which highlights a variety of activists and peace heroes to educate any and all who walk by the museum. |
Zafar Shayan
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Shayan was engaged with Peace Museum Vienna in summer 2017 on various peace-related projects. His important contributions to PMV are with our peace education through the lives of peace heroes, writing peace heroes profiles, running the website, designing newsletter, organizing events and guiding tours to our windows for peace visitors. After he finished his official internship period, he has continued his voluntary collaboration with the museum. Peace Museum Vienna is delighted to have him on board as a team member. Shayan was born in Afghanistan. He volunteered for Universal Peace Federation (UPF) in Kabul in 2009 and 2010, which promoted peace through various social activities. He directed an NGO called Dynamic Youth Organization (DYO) in Afghanistan, which worked for capacity development of youth in Afghanistan. He says, he has preferred doing his internship at Peace Museum Vienna despite having several options, due to his personal commitment for promoting peace. Peace in Afghanistan is one of his aspirations. |
Elizabeth McinroyRead Bio
Liz grew up in Arvada Colorado and is a recent graduate from Western Colorado University. She majored in recreation outdoor education with a leadership emphasis and minor in sociology. She also works as a mountain bike coach and hotel front desk agent in Crested Butte. “Peace to me means society is in a state of nonviolence due to ongoing harmony of the community. This state can only be reached if the community comes together and sees everyone as beings who matter and have a positive role in society.” |
Paul Mack
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Denese L. Hawk
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Hannah Elizabeth Monroe WhiteRead Bio
Hannah is a graduate of languages from the University of Manchester, UK. She is an alumni of the United World College of Hong Kong, where she learned conflict resolution theory to promote peaceful dialogue at Initiative For Peace, and lived with students from all around the globe. She is passionate about human rights, volunteering and world affairs, and believes in using our talents for the advancement of peacemaking. She is motivated to work on the team to promote peace education and our mission at Peace Hero Museums worldwide, to make peace work more accessible and engaging through research and innovative content. “Peace is something which stretches far beyond the absence of violence and the development of government policies. For me, peace is something that everyone can influence, every day. It starts at the individual level. From there, it ripples into communities, cultures, and societies, creating a blueprint for real change and authentic harmony. Language learning opens your world, your perspectives, all whilst offering the possibility for empathy, connection, and insight. For this reason, I believe If everyone could just learn one new language, we would see more tolerance, acceptance, intercultural understanding, and ultimately, more peace. Languages give you gateways into cultivating peace that would simply be impenetrable in a monolingual capacity.” |
