Speaker Bios

Ciaran O Cuinn

Ciaran O Cuinn is the Centre Director of the MEDRC, which is based in Muscat, Oman, in the Middle East. MEDRC is an International Organisation established as part of the Middle East Peace Process to use water for peace. It has  a mandate to assist the peace process, find solutions to fresh water scarcity and develop models for using transboundary environmental issues in the service of peace processes.

Mr O Cuinn, who is a native of Bray, Co Wicklow, is a specialist in public policy and international relations, particularly the development of mechanisms to deal with trans-boundary environmental issues. He spent more than a decade working on the various elements of the Irish Peace Process on projects as diverse the development of a single All-Island Energy Market, formal negotiations between the main parties and the development of conflict resolution initiatives to help capture the lessons learned from the Irish context for peace processes elsewhere. He was principal ministerial policy adviser at three Government departments (Department of Communications, Foreign Affairs and Justice in the Irish Government). Educated at Trinity College, Dublin and The School of Oriental & African Studies, London, he holds degrees in both History and Public Policy.

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