Scilla Elworthy

Scilla Elworthy (born 3 June 1943 in Galashiels, Scotland) is the founder of the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organisation she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. She served as its executive director from 1982 until 2003, when she left that role in order to set up Peace Direct, a charity supporting local peace-builders in conflict areas. From 2005 she was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson in setting up The Elders. She is a member of the World Future Council and the International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy. She is also the author of several books and the Director of Programmes for the World Peace Festival held in Berlin August 2011.

She has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2003 she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize for her work with the Oxford Research Group.