Diana Florez is a committed feminist and highly experienced legal professional, bringing over fifteen years of experience to her role. She has combined her work experience in UN agencies, with grassroots organisational work and academic research. Her focus has been on gender, transitional justice, development, and peacebuilding, with an emphasis on women's priorities in post-conflict justice agendas. Her work is strongly impact-driven, whether in public policy, organisational strengthening, or research, employing a pragmatic approach and implementing tangible actions that directly impact the regions, women, and communities involved.

Diana excels in resource mobilisation successfully securing over £10 million in funding from donors like the EU, UN PBF, AECID, and Misereor over the past eight years. These projects have aimed to elevate women's political participation, foster peace, and gender equality. With extensive experience in both Colombia and Honduras, she currently serves as a Research Associate for the 'Legacies of the Disappeared' project within the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice, and Security Hub, contributing to the broadening of conceptions of harm in transitional justice and International Relations.

Diana has professionally collaborated with renowned institutions, universities, , international and grassroots organisations, including the Colombian National Planning Department, University of Oxford, Amnesty International, Diocese of Tibu, Grupo Sociedad Civil (Honduras), UNDP and UN Women. In the latter, Diana led the Women, Peace, and Security Area in Honduras, focusing on strengthening protection systems for women defenders and on contributing to the approval of legislative reforms aimed at ensuring increased political participation of women.

Diana holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews, an MSc in NGOs and Development from the London School of Economics, and an LLB in Law from the Universidad Externado de Colombia, complementing her previous law studies at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia (UIS).

Research:

• Gender and Peacebuilding
• Human Rights Violations in Armed Conflicts and contexts of organize crime
• Enforced Displacement
• Transitional Justice
• Participatory Action Research and ethical considerations
• Public policy

Diana's research primarily emphasises feminism and peace and conflict studies. Employing Participatory Action Research methodologies, her work centres on the interests of participants, particularly women and their communities, aiming to collaboratively generate tangible impacts beyond academic interests. This reflects Diana's commitment to fostering meaningful engagement and producing research outcomes that contribute to positive changes within the communities she studies. Her expertise extends to the intricate dynamics of human rights violations in armed conflicts and contexts of organized crime, understanding the complexities of justice mechanism and the role of gender in these dynamics. Overall, Diana's scholarship brings valuable insights to interdisciplinary discussions on post-conflict reconstruction, human rights, and feminist perspectives in international relations.

Publications:

• Florez, D., Lewis, D. (2024), FARC. In: Scott N. Romaniuk, et al. (eds) Handbook of Global Terrorist and Insurgent Groups: Tactics, Strategies, and Organization (forthcoming)
• Florez, D. (2021). Is forced displacement another example of the feminization of violence in Honduras? Grupo Sociedad Civil-UNHCR.
• Florez, D (2021), Mapping of institutional and international/national actors and the route of protection for GBV and forced displacement, Grupo Sociedad Civil-UNHCR.
• Florez, D (2020), Invisible Transitional Justice: a comparative study in Catatumbo and Montes de María (PhD Thesis, University of St Andrews, UK) https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/745
• Brett, R., Florez, D. (2016). Peacebuilding in South America. In: Richmond, O.P., Pogodda, S., Ramović, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-40761-0_34