Staff

QUNO has fully-staffed offices in Geneva and New York.

Geneva

Jonathan Woolley

Director

Jonathan Woolley holds an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Applied Biology from the University of Cambridge, UK. He joined QUNO in 2011, bringing more than thirty years’ professional experience of agricultural research, development and capacity building in some fifty countries. Starting as a volunteer teacher in Kenya, he then worked directly with poor farmers in Nigeria, Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico. From 1999 to 2009, he led two research networks directed at institutional reform, building cohesive small teams and strengthening innovative partnerships: a ground-breaking agricultural research fund in Ecuador, and the first phase of the "CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food" based in Sri Lanka and active in nine river basins around the world. He originally joined Friends in the UK some forty years ago, and is a member of Mexico City Monthly Quaker Meeting.

Lindsey Fielder Cook

Representative for Climate Change

Lindsey holds a BA in Politics from the Durham University, an MA in Literature of Conflict from York University, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from DeMontfort University. She joined QUNO in 2013, following a career in conflict areas, initially as a volunteer in reconciliation youth work in Northern Ireland and as a teacher in the Israeli Occupied West Bank. She has worked with UNRWA on refugee protection in the West Bank, with OHCHR (formerly UNCHR) during the war in the Former Yugoslavia, with UNOSOM in Somalia to help coordinate humanitarian efforts, with UNSCO in Gaza on donor coordination to implement of the Oslo Peace Accords, and in Bonn with UNV on communication of development efforts. Lindsey’s work at QUNO focuses on climate change and environmental degradation as a peace and justice concern, engaging at a international level with the climate change negotiations, climate science, human rights efforts, while seeking to connect international progress with grassroots efforts. Lindsey is a Member of German Yearly Meeting and lives with her family in Bonn, where QUNO has an office space.

Florence Foster

Representative for Peace and Disarmament

Florence holds an MA in International Relations from Bristol University, UK, and has since specialized in displacement and conflict analysis, with an increasing emphasis on disarmament, mediation and conflict transformation. She began her career as an intern at the Global Protection Cluster and the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva, before moving on to focus on West African conflict dynamics at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, with work in Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. Through her latest roles as Programme Manager at the Fondation Suisse de Déminage and Finn Church Aid, Florence led mediation and armed violence reduction initiatives in the Central African Republic.

Joachim Monkelbaan

Representative for Sustainable and Just Economic Systems

Joachim Monkelbaan joined QUNO in March 2019 as Representative for our Sustainable and Just Economic Systems programme, which seeks to foster economic systems that deliver prosperity for all. Joachim holds a Masters degree in International Law and Economics (World Trade Institute, Berne), an LL.M. in European Law and Languages (Maastricht University and University of Westminster), and a PhD in sustainability governance (University of Geneva). He brings 15 years of professional experience with organizations such as UN Environment, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), World Health Organization (WHO), Institute for Developing Economies (Tokyo, Japan), and Climate-KIC (Brussels) and with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Joachim directed several Sustainability Impact Assessments of trade and investment agreements for the European Commission. He is co-founder of the Sustainability Leadership Lab, a training institute focused on raised awareness of complex adaptive systems, group dynamics, and leadership competencies.

Laurel Townhead

Representative for Human Rights and Refugees

Laurel Townhead has a Degree in Law & Politics from the University of Manchester and a Masters in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. Laurel joined QUNO as Human Rights and Refugees Representative in 2014 and has over 15 years experience working on human rights protection nationally and through the UN human rights system, during which time she has worked on a wide range issues, including women’s rights and refugee protection. Immediately before coming to QUNO, Laurel was Policy and Campaigns Manager for Women in Prison; a role that included advocating for national implementation of the Bangkok Rules on the Treatment of Women Prisoners, which she contributed to drafting. At QUNO Laurel continues to work on human rights and criminal justice, with a focus on the rights of children of incarcerated parents. Laurel leads our work on human rights of migrants. Building on work to secure an ambitious, effective and human rights based Global Compact for Migration, Laurel focuses on how the UN system can better promote and protect the rights of migrants regardless of status. Laurel also takes forward our long term commitment to recognition of the right to conscientious objection to military service. Laurel is an attender of Geneva Monthly Meeting.

Najmah Ali

Programme Assistant, Human Rights and Refugees

Najmah holds a degree in International Politics from City University London and a Masters in Human Rights Law from SOAS. Prior to joining QUNO, Najmah promoted accessibility and inclusion in higher education at London South Bank University, specifically addressing barriers faced by groups such as care-leavers, refugees and asylum seekers in realizing their right to education.

Over the years Najmah has worked and volunteered on a range of human rights issues in the UK, with organizations such as Victim Support, Public Interest Law Centre, and Body & Soul. These experiences have helped shape Najmah’s understanding of human rights in practice, particularly in advocating for marginalized and vulnerable groups, an area which she is excited to build upon at QUNO.

Alice Munnelly

Programme Assistant, Peace and Disarmament

Alice Munnelly is Irish and holds an LLB in Law and an MA in War Studies from King’s College London. During her time at university, Alice won the Doughty Street Chambers Human Rights Law advocacy award and helped to found a pro bono mediation clinic during her presidency of the King’s College London Pro Bono Society. Since graduating from law school, Alice has been appointed to the US Embassy’s Young Leaders Council in Dublin and been awarded the Graham Turnbull Human Rights Law Prize from the Law Society of England & Wales.

Alice is an accredited mediator and a Co-Chair of the UK-based Young Mediators’ Group. Her published articles range from topics such as mediating art & cultural property disputes to peace mediation and the role of mediation support units. She has also delivered training in conflict transformation, negotiation and mediation to NGOs in the US and Europe, and to students at a Yale Summer School. Alice has also worked in international politics at the European Parliament, and in diplomacy at the British Embassy in Paris as part of the UK Delegation to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Beatrice Liese

Programme Assistant, Climate Change and Sustainability

Beatrice graduated with an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2019, where she specialized in global environmental governance and the law on climate change. At the LSE, her interest in grassroots climate action led her to undertake research on public participation in climate litigation, focusing on the methods of the social movements working towards government accountability on climate change. She holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Oxford and has spent a number of years working as a translator and editor from her native German. She previously interned with the peacebuilding charity Conciliation Resources and also brings experience working as a Research Assistant and facilitating climate education at University College London. Beatrice is passionate about interfaith work and first started attending Quaker Meeting in London.

Susan Sprague Parachini

Finance Officer

Susan, a Canadian with a B.A. in Geography from the University of British Colombia in Vancouver, joined QUNO in March 2014. She traveled the world extensively as an administrative manager of different resorts of a well-known hotel chain before settling in Geneva to work as office manager and assistant to the ambassador of the Colombian Mission to the World Trade Organization. Susan then worked as project finance officer for the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association (IUF), running educational projects on health and safety in the workplace for IUF members worldwide. Most recently Susan and her husband created and ran a restaurant in Burgundy, France, before returning to Geneva in autumn 2013.

Tamara Wiher

Office Manager

Tamara comes to QUNO with over 15 years experience working with governments, the United Nations, companies, and civil society organizations in four different continents to promote respect for human rights, international humanitarian law and corporate social responsibility. Before joining QUNO she has led the secretariat of the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes initiative based in Geneva. Previously she worked in the Human Rights Policy Office of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern, helping to shape Swiss foreign policy on human rights, managing projects and organizing events and trainings. Before returning to her home country Switzerland in 2012, she had also worked with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, the UN Development Programme in Niger, and with a local NGO in Timor Leste. Tamara holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex.

New York

Andrew Tomlinson

Director & Quaker UN Representative

Andrew Tomlinson is Director of the Quaker UN Office (QUNO) in New York. He holds Masters Degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in South Asia and the Middle East. Andrew joined QUNO in 2008 after working in international finance and socially responsible investing in London and New York. Andrew’s programmatic focus includes the integration of peacebuilding and prevention perspectives across the UN system, and upholding the role of peaceful, just and inclusive societies within development frameworks and beyond. A Quaker since he came to Philadelphia from the UK on an exchange scholarship, Andrew is now a member of Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting in New Jersey.

Megan Schmidt

Quaker UN Representative

Megan joins QUNO with knowledge and experience in the fields of human rights and atrocities prevention, and holds Masters degrees in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University and in Human Rights and Genocide Studies from Kingston University. Having worked with the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect, the Wiener Library, and the Kurdish Human Rights Project, Megan has conducted comparative genocide research, worked to advance the Responsibility to Protect at the UN and globally, and implemented a diverse range of atrocity prevention programs throughout the world. She has written a range of materials focusing on the Responsibility to Protect, women’s rights and participation, among other issues related to the field of atrocity prevention. In her role at QUNO, Megan leads the organization’s Peacebuilding Program, working in the United Nations environment to support more holistic and people-centered peace strategies and policy development. Outside of QUNO Megan is an avid runner and serves as a Run Director for a local running group, and resides with her husband and dog in Manhattan.

Kavita Desai

Quaker UN Representative

Kavita joins QUNO from the UN Foundation's Global Policy Team where she supported UN processes around sustainable development and led engagement at the regional and global level across development and human rights issues. Prior to that she was Adviser to the Permanent Mission of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to the United Nations, from 2010 to 2016, where she negotiated the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda, advocating for the adoption of SDG 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies.

Kavita holds a BA from Rutgers University College where she double majored in political science and art history, and a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Pace University Law School with certificates in environmental and international law.

Andrew McKenna

Office Coordinator

Andrew joined QUNO after completing 2 years of volunteering with the Peace Corps. Serving as a community agribusiness specialist, Andrew lived in Uganda for 2 years, working with a local community-based organization on reducing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS, and trying to help women and families improve their economic and nutritional security. Before that, he worked in the Office of Student Life at Northern Virginia Community College. Andrew graduated from James Madison University with a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.B.A. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. After college, he worked for a few years as a restaurant manager before transitioning into administrative management and support roles.

He misses the beautiful starry nights from Uganda, and loves talking about news in astronomy. Andrew is excited to try and support the work QUNO does in promoting global nonviolence and human rights.

Hannah Patterson

Programme Assistant

Hannah joins QUNO after graduating from Middlebury College with a BA in Political Science and Philosophy, and a minor in Spanish. In her studies she explored different conceptualizations of enacting ethical justice by grounding this work in the materiality of how oppression and inequality are experienced, and focusing on the specific interrogation of the systems that preclude the realization of justice both locally and internationally. Her thesis explored the philosophical relationship between empathy and morality and the practical ways in which empathy can be harnessed to facilitate social change, specifically through its unique positioning as a means to transition away from retributive justice towards restorative and transformative models.

Her current areas of interest include human rights, holistic and transformative policy development, and the promotion of equitable representation of traditionally marginalized perspectives in diplomacy, as well as in the development of dynamic and contextualized processes that attend to the both the root causes and long-term effects of conflict.

Having been raised Quaker, she is looking forward to putting her Quaker values into practice and applying them to complex crisis resolution as well as sustainable peacebuilding on an international scale. Outside of QUNO, Hannah enjoys horseback riding and loves talking about regenerative farming.

Molly Burger

Programme Assistant

Molly joins QUNO after serving as a cultural ambassador and teaching English in Germany through the Fulbright Program. She graduated from Dickinson College in 2019, where she majored in international studies with a concentration in globalization and sustainability and German studies with a concentration in politics. During her junior year, Molly interned with the Bremen Information Center for Human Rights and Development, where she compiled information on issues related to sustainable development and climate change. Expanding upon this knowledge, she explored in her senior research the impacts of climate change on global food security. She is excited to learn more about the role of peacebuilding and the prevention of violent conflict in global politics, and the role of international organizations.

Growing up Molly attended the Unitarian Universalist Church. She has found that the principles she learned as a child closely resemble Quaker values. She is from New York State, north of the Adirondack Mountains, and likes to hike and spend time outdoors. She also enjoys soccer and reading and hopes to improve her cooking skills this coming year.