2020/2021 Outstanding Peace Activist

Dr. Kevin Clements has a lifelong commitment to peace, having worked in the field for over 50 years. He was the Foundation Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Founding Director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS) at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He currently serves as the Director of the Toda Peace Institute in Japan. Prior to his role at Otago University, Dr. Clements was a professor of peace and conflict studies and the Founding Director of the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Queensland. He also served as Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), President of the IPRA Foundation, and Secretary General for IPRA’s Asia-Pacific region (APPRA). Additionally, he was the Secretary General of International Alert, based in London, the Lynch Professor and Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University, and Head of the Peace Research Centre at Australian National University. He also directed the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva from 1982 to 1984.

Professor Clements is an expert in the academic analysis and practice of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. He has been a regular consultant to various non-governmental, governmental, and intergovernmental organizations on conflict resolution, peacebuilding, disarmament, arms control, and human security issues. He has received numerous awards, including the Soka University Distinguished Scholar Award for Peace in 1996, the UNAA Peace Award in 2007, the New Zealand Peace Foundation’s 2014 Peace Award, and Honorary Life Membership of the NZ Peace Foundation in 2020. In 2022, he was named the Distinguished Peace Scholar of the Year by the International Studies Association.

Dr. Clements is a member of the Research Committee of the Institute for Economics and Peace and an expert at the Toda Peace Institute in development and peacebuilding. He also serves as the chair of the Archibald Baxter Trust, which honors New Zealand’s conscientious objectors to war and promotes conscientious objection both nationally and globally.