Scilla Elworthy

Priscilla "Scilla" Elworthy is a peace builder, and the founder of the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organisation she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics, for which she was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She served as its executive director from 1982 until 2003, when she left that role to set up Peace Direct, a charity supporting local peace-builders in conflict areas. In 2003 she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize. From 2005 she was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson in setting up The Elders. She is a member of the World Future Council and in 2012 co-founded Rising Women Rising World, a growing, vibrant community of women on all continents who take responsibility for building a world that works for all. Her latest book is Pioneering the Possible: awakened leadership for a world that works (North Atlantic Books, 2014), and her TED talk on non-violence has been viewed by nearly one million people. In 1982 she founded the Oxford Research Group (ORG) an NGO which independently researched decision-making on security in the five major nuclear nations during and after the Cold War and brought together policy-makers, academics, the military and civil society to engage in dialogue with their critics. For this work she was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2003 was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize. She remained the executive director of ORG until 2003.

In 2003 Elworthy stepped down as executive director of ORG to found a new charity, Pe- ace Direct, which supports local peace-builders in conflict areas. Peace Direct was named "Best New Charity" at the London Charity Awards 2005 and, although she is not involved in the day-to-day running, Elworthy remains an Ambassador for Peace Direct. Although she has lectured extensively around the world and appeared on television and radio throughout the last 20 years, her work was less in the public eye from 2005 to 2009 as she was advising Richard Branson, Desmond Tutu and Peter Gabriel on the creation of The Elders, "an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity." In 2012 Elworthy co-founded Rising Women Rising World, a growing, vibrant community of women on all continents who take responsibility for building a world that works for all. "The custodians of this mission are a committed group of professionals, who, over the past 30 years have been shaping their respective fields: economics, business, governance, security, health, ecology, media, culture and the arts.

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