Maria Hadjipavlou is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus. As a scholar practitioner, Professor Hadjipavlou has been promoting peace across the divide in Cyprus for many decades. She has facilitated and designed numerous conflict resolution workshops among different social groups from both communities. She is a founding member and president of the Cyprus Peace Center and a founder of the first international Cypriot Women's NGO, "Hands Across the Divide." She is also a consultant and member of expert teams at the Council of Europe on issues of inter-cultural dialogue and equality between men and women, and a trainer for KEGME (Mediterranean Women's Studies Center) in Athens, Greece. She has published widely in the areas of conflict resolution, the Cyprus conflict, women and peace, and ethnic stereotypes. She has recently coordinated a pioneer research project funded by the European Union on "Women in All Cypriot Communities" and a book has been published on these finding in English, Greek and Turkish.