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About Terry Savage

Growing up amid war in Zimbabwe and then transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa, Terry Savage was confronted early with the brutal impacts of structural violence and of war. He took a stand as a conscientious objector against the apartheid military, before studying social sciences at the University of Cape Town; conflict mediation at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, thanks to a Fulbright Fellowship; and his PhD in political sociology at the KU Leuven.
 
Dr Savage worked in South Africa’s vibrant non-profit sector for the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, setting up projects in the Congo, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Zimbabwe, running a fellowship for the International Center for Transitional Justice (92 fellows, 24 societies in transition, 4 years), and publishing avidly on reconciliation and transition in Africa. He has served with the United Nations as Chief of Human Rights Reporting in Burundi and as Reparations Policy Adviser in Nepal, where he used elicitive methods to produce a national reparations policy that incorporated victims’ needs and priorities in their own words.
 
He has taught extensively at Stellenbosch University since 2003 and consulted widely. Recent clients have been the Berghof Foundation, working with the challenges posed to mediation efforts by conflicting versions of history; Avocats Sans Frontières in Mali, brokering channels between victims' groups and Mali’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission; and the German civil peace service in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, building dignifying interviewing methods for consulting women & girls returning from abduction and sexualized enslavement under Da’esh / Islamic State.
 
Complementing his work with Nova Southeastern University, Dr Savage enjoys a continuing research affiliation with the University of Leuven. He has published numerous articles and op-eds, as well as three books on the challenges of reconciliation after violent conflict on a large scale in African settings. He is working on a fourth book, developing a victimological approach to transitional justice. He is on two United Nations experts' rosters - the Governance and Peacebuilding Roster for Africa and the UNDP-DPA Peace and Development Roster - the board of the Swiss Restorative Justice Forum, and the editorial team for the Africa volume of a project to establish an international encyclopedia on Restorative Justice.

Positions

2020 - Present Keynote address and resource consultant, Nova Southeastern University ‐ Halmos College of Arts and Sciences - Department of Conflict Resolution Studies
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2020 - Present Researcher, Catholic University of Leuven ‐ Faculty of Social Sciences.
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2020 - Present Switzerland representative and expert, Switzerland representative and expert on the Management Committee of the EU research project, Cultures of Victimology.
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2008 - Present Guest Lecturer, University of South-Eastern Norway.
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2003 - Present Lecturer, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
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Present Chair/Associate Professor, Nova Southeastern University ‐ Halmos College of Arts and Sciences
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2021 - 2021 Peacebuilding Research Management Consultant, Concordis International
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2020 - 2020 Research Consultant, Berghof Foundation
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2016 - 2017 Consultancy, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC / DEZA) ‐ Switzerland and Nepal
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2015 - 2016 Senior Adviser, Danish Institute for Human Rights
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2012 - 2012 Transitional Justice Consultant, UNDP- Libya
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2011 - 2012 Reparations Policy Advisor, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
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2007 - 2007 Consultant, United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
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2006 - 2007 Research Associate, French Institute of South Africa / Universite de Paris Nanterre
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1999 - 2000 Tutor, Syracuse University ‐ University College
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1995 - 1996 Tutor, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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1993 - 1995 Lecturer, Université de la Réunion, France ‐ Département d’Etudes Anglophones
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Chief of Reporting Unit, United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) ‐ Human Rights and Justice Division
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Curriculum Vitae

Disciplines

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Professional Service and Affiliations

2020 - Present Editorial Board membership, Conflict Resolution Quarterly
1998 Associate editor, inaugural Journal of Public and International Affairs
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Honors and Awards

  • William Flaherty Scholarship, awarded by the Public Administration Department at Maxwell School (1998).

Courses

  • Supervisory Skills Training (course offered to team leaders in UN system), 2009.
  • Competency Based Performance Management (course for team leaders in UN system), 2009.
  • Course on monitoring and protection of human rights, offered by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), 2009
  • Course on transitional justice and perpetrators, offered by the Faculté de Droit et de Science Politique, Aix-Marseille Université), 2017.

Education

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2020 PhD, University of Leuven ‐ Faculty of Social Sciences
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2006 Research Fellowship, Institut français d'Afrique du Sud
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2005 Master of Public Administration (MPA), Syracuse University ‐ Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
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2002 Master of Arts-International Relations (MA-IR), Syracuse University ‐ Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
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1998 - 1999 William Flaherty Scholarship, Syracuse University ‐ Departments of International Relations and Public Administration, Maxwell School
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1997 - 1998 Fellowship, Fulbright U.S. Student Program ‐ graduate studies in Conflict Mediation
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1997 Master of Social Sciences (MSocSci), University of Cape Town, South Africa
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1995 Bachelor of Social Sciences [Honours], University of Cape Town, South Africa
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1995 Bursary, Centre for Science Development
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Links

Contact Information

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies
Halmos College of Arts and Sciences
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
(954) 262-8112
nova.edu

ORCID

Articles (3)

Books and Book Contributions (8)

Other (3)

Presentations (2)