Velma Šarić

Velma is the founder and executive director of the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) — an innovative peacebuilding organization, based in Sarajevo, which aims to cultivate an environment for sustainable peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the greater Balkans region. Velma has extensive academic and professional experience in the fields of sociology, genocide studies and international law and war crimes.

As a graduate of the BBC reporting school, Velma has dedicated her 14-year career to investigative reporting in the Western Balkans. Velma has also worked as a journalist for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). As a researcher and producer she has worked on numerous publications and films about the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, including Uspomene 677, In the Land of Blood and Honey by Angelina Jolie, and I Came to Testify and War Redefined from the PBS series Women, War & Peace. Velma is also the founder of Balkan Diskurs, a non-profit, multimedia platform dedicated to challenging stereotypes and providing viewpoints on society, culture and politics in the Western Balkans.

In 2014, Velma and the Post-Conflict Research Center were awarded the Intercultural Innovation Award by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).