Josie Gardner is an innovator, idealist, optimist, and unorthodox thinker passionate about bridging divides through dialogue, inner healing and grassroots peace work. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate and Scientia Scholar at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where she also lectures and tutors on international politics, development and community activism. She has been part of several action-based research projects, which primarily work with refugee women. Her current research investigates emergent peace systems and the link between inner and outer peace in historic violence and socio-political polarisation contexts. She is passionate about anti-colonial, youth-led peacebuilding, finding young people to be some of her most inspiring teachers. Prior to her Ph.D. research, Josie co-founded ‘Muralisto’, a community arts and development social enterprise in Sydney. She also founded a sustainable micro-credit development project in partnership with HIV+ widows in Tanzania. She has also worked in human rights roles at both Amnesty International Australia to the Australian Journal of Human Rights and has led many community action research projects in Australia and abroad, with a focus on vulnerable populations. Outside of academia, Josie is involved in psycho-spiritual healing and self-transformation work grounded in earth-honoring ethos, with practices including rites of passage, ceremony, community healing, trauma-informed facilitation, and peace circles.