Peter Dixon, Ph.D.

Peter Dixon is an Associate Professor of Practice in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University. He received his PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015. In his research, Dr. Dixon uses mixed methodologies to understand how local knowledge can influence transformative solutions toward peace and justice in conflict-affected communities.

Currently, he is researching community-based transitional justice in Colombia and bottom-up approaches to public safety and restorative justice in urban America. He has received support for this work from foundations including the National Science Foundation, United States Institute of Peace, Inter-American Foundation, and Humanity United. His writing has been published in journals including the International Journal of Transitional Justice, the Journal of Human Rights Practice, and Law and Social Inquiry, and in a number of edited volumes.

Dr. Dixon collaborates with diverse organizations in his work, always with the goal of making his research useful for addressing social problems and respectful of the communities who these problems ultimately affect. As a former evaluation specialist at the United Nations in New York and at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, he also continues to support international organizations on monitoring, evaluation and strategy. He serves on the Boards of the NGO Everyday Peace Indicators and the Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation at Middlebury College. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the University of California Berkeley Possibility Lab and fellow of the Salzburg Seminar.