Lea Perekrests is the Deputy Director of Operations for Europe & MENA at the Institute for Economics and Peace in Brussels. She is responsible for managing partnerships, overseeing consulting operations, and curating Positive Peace trainings across the region. She has extensive experience leading workshops throughout the region with various stakeholders and audiences. Lea holds a Master’s Degree in International Conflict and Security from the University of Kent and has a background as a policy advisor and in academia, developing university-level curriculum for international relations courses. Lea holds a BA in International Relations from Connecticut College (USA), is the co-chair of CEPOL’s EMISA working group on cyberterrorism, is a member of the Interdisciplinary PeaceTech Group, and was selected as one of Brussels’ 15 top rising inclusive leaders in the political, social, economic, and digital fields in 2019 by the German Marshall Fund’s Inclusive Leadership Network.

The Institute for Economics & Peace annually publishes the Global Peace Index, Global Terrorism Index, and Ecological Threat Report in addition to consulting for a wide array of partners on themes related to security, peace, vulnerability mapping, development, resilience, and more. IEP also offers trainings in systems-thinking, resilience and peacebuilding, and more.