Agatha is currently a PhD student at George Mason’s Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), and is particularly interested in religious violence as well as the power of religion & spirituality in promoting positive peacemaking. She is particularly impassioned by how change-makers can work to improve U.S.-Muslim relations.

Agatha is originally from Poland and grew up with an appreciation of the power of religion in mobilizing a massive nonviolent social movement, in this case that of the Catholic Church and the Solidarity Movement.  She completed her graduate studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where she earned an Master’s degree in European Studies, and earned her BA from Harvard University.  Agatha also spent a year in Poland as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar.

Although she acknowledges the importance of peacebuilding on a societal level, Agatha also believes peace must begin within, through an internal transformation of the heart. Thus, in addition to her studies, she is also a yoga teacher and explores the transformative power of this ancient practice in raising consciousness. She explores aspects of this internal journey on her blog “Jiva Journeys.”