Kate Fearon

From January 2024, Kate Fearon has been Director of the OSCE’s Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC). She  joined OSCE in June 2022 as CPC Deputy Director, where she led the Policy Support Service, overseeing the South-Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe desks.

Previously, Kate worked for the European Union Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions in Kosovo (EULEX) and in Georgia (EUMM). As Special Advisor to the Civilian Operations Commander of the CSDP missions in Brussels, she worked on the CSDP missions in Ukraine, Ramallah, Rafah, Somalia, Niger, Iraq and Libya. She has also worked on rule of law issues in Afghanistan and Sudan.

As Deputy Head of the Political Department in the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kate contributed to the implementation of the Dayton Accords, and as Head of the Mitrovica Office of the International Civilian Office in Kosovo, was responsible for implementing the Ahtisaari Plan in northern Kosovo. Prior to her international work, Kate was a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) and participated in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement.

Kate studied at Queen’s University, Belfast, the University of Sarajevo, and Huddersfield University.  She is the author of two books, Women’s Work: The Story of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (1999) and City of Soldiers: A Year of Life and Death in Afghanistan (2012), as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles on conflict resolution, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and on rule of law and democratization.