Dr. Janet C. Gerson is the recipient of the 2018 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award. She is a political theorist, writer, artist, and activist educator who has taught peace education, conflict processes, transformative learning, and futures envisioning. She is the Education Director of the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE), and former Co-Director of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City (2001- 2010). She has collaborated with the Morton Deutsch International Center on Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR) at at Teachers College since 1996. Her research and writing focus on the interrelatedness of dignity, justice, democracy and peace.

Janet came to the talk titled Humiliation and the Roots of Violence that Evelin Lindner gave at the MD-ICCCR on December 17, 2001, 3.30 pm, upon the invitation of Betty Reardon, attended by Morton Deutsch, among others. She particiated in Evelin Lindner’s first conference that was hosted by Morton Deutsch at the MD-ICCCR in 2003, and she was part of Morton Deutsch's last project, titled Imagine a Global Human Community (Video, December 11, 2013 | transcript, see the pledge Morton Deutsch brought to the 2013 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York, December 5-6, 2013).

As a Board Member of HumanDHS, Janet co-hosts Dignity Now circles in New York City since 2015, initiated by Michael Britten with Judit Révész and Chipamong Chowdhury. The first meeting took place in Janet Gerson's NYC art gallery home on November 14, 2015, on the occasion of Gaby Saab's return to the city.

Janet Gerson contributed with an important chapter to this book:
"Reclaiming Common Bases of Human Dignity." In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 4. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019.

Together with Dale T. Snauwaert, Janet Gerson authored the book Reclaimative Post-Conflict Justice: Democratizing Justice in the World Tribunal on Iraq (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2021).

Specializing in peace education and peace scholarship, Janet Gerson works internationally as a consultant, program designer, mediator, presenter and educator. A political theorist and peace educator, her research focuses are democratizing justice, public deliberation, creativity and conflict processes, and peace pedagogy. With IIPE, she has worked in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Canada, South Korea, Japan, India, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Lebanon, and Israel.  She has served as a consultant for the UN University of Peace in Costa Rica, UNIFEM, Community-based Institutes on Peace Education (CIPE), and the Global Campaign on Peace Education (GCPE). She organized and ran a month-long training for the Afghan Institute of Learning at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Janet Gerson has been a facilitator and associate member of TOPLAB, Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory of New York since 1997. Her research interests are tribunals, public deliberation, conflict approaches, coalitional processes, Theater of the Oppressed, and peace education pedagogy.

She received the 2014 Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) Award for her dissertation Public Deliberation on Global Justice: The World Tribunal on Iraq. 

See a selection of her publictions:

• The Interrelatedness of Dignity, Justice, Democracy, and Peace (Video), contribution to Dignilogue 3 of the 2021 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual at Columbia University, New York City, December 9 – 11, 2021, based on her recent book, Reclaimative post-conflict justice: Democratizing justice in the World Tribunal on Iraq (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2021) co-authored with Dale Snauwaert.

• Janet Gerson with Achim Nowak, 2021

• Gerson, Janet, and Dale T. Snauwaert (2021). Reclaimative Post-Conflict Justice: Democratizing Justice in the World Tribunal on Iraq. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International. Preface by Betty Reardon.
This book is a must-read for generations to come. Gerson and Snauwaert brilliantly chronicle how the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) operationalized a new conception of post-conflict by reclaiming the ethical bases of politics through building on universal morals and human rights principles. The WTI modeled democratizing justice by reclaiming the voice, authority, and dignity of people affected by official authorities’ decisions on war and peace. As humanity faces deep crises with ecocide and sociocide looming, the need to open just such global public spaces for deliberation is ever more pressing. Global civil society tribunals can be just such adaptable, alternative public arenas. This book offers all global citizens a treasure trove of dignified pathways into the future.
– Evelin Lindner, Ph.D., MD; PhD, Psychology Founding President, Human Dignity & Humiliation Studies, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, 2015, 2016, & 2017

• Meet and Greet – Small Group Dignilogues – Introduced by Janet Gerson (Video)
The 20th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, titled "The Urgency of Seeding Dignity: Honoring 20 Years of Global Collaboration for Transforming Suffering Through Courageous and Compassionate Action," hybrid, co-hosted online and in person by the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, December 8, 2023.

• Janet Gerson and Elaine Meis (2023)
Host of the Dignilogue titled Seeding Dignity Through Collaborative Action (in four parts, two online and two in person):
In person:
- Humiliation Trauma with Sharon Steinborn and Peter Pollard
- Movement for Building Movements: Engagement and Collaboration, Including the Arts with Martha Eddy
Online:
- Giving and Receiving Simple Acts of Kindness as Seeds of Dignity with Beth Boyton (Video)
- Reimagining Education with Phil Brown and Stephanie Knox Steiner (Video)
The 20th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, titled "The Urgency of Seeding Dignity: Honoring 20 Years of Global Collaboration for Transforming Suffering Through Courageous and Compassionate Action," hybrid, co-hosted online and in person by the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, December 8, 2023.

• Janet Gerson Explains the Metaphor of the Lotus Flower (Video)
The 20th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, titled "The Urgency of Seeding Dignity: Honoring 20 Years of Global Collaboration for Transforming Suffering Through Courageous and Compassionate Action," hybrid, co-hosted online and in person by the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, December 8, 2023.

• Host of Dignilogue 3: Unity in Adversity and Dignity: War, Women, and Indigenous Wisdom (Video of the Full Length of the Dignilogue) on Day Two of the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

• 3 Storytelling videos:
– December 12, 2019: (1) About Relationships, (2) Janet Gerson's Lifepath and Insights, (3) David Tribich's Lifepath and Insights. Evelin Lindner did the recording.

• Climate Catastrophe and Political Discourse (Video), contribution shared at the 2017 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York City, December 7–8, 2017.

- Bullying: Nuclear, Presidential, Patriarchial (2016) (Video)

• Reflective Inquiry as a Pedagogy for Dignity and Inclusion, paper contributed to the 2014 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York City, December 4–5, 2014.

• Democratizing Justice: The World Tribunal on Iraq, In Factis Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice, 7 (2, 2013), pp. 86–112.

• IIPE, The World Tribunal on Iraq, and Transcending a Century of Worldwide Wars (2013) (Pdf)

• Gerson's earlier publications include contributions to In Factis Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice, she has contributed to The Handbook of Conflict Resolution (Coleman, Deutsch & Marcus 2006), GCPE Newsletter, Learning to Abolish War: Teaching toward a Culture of Peace  (B. Reardon & A. Cabezudo; Hague Appeal for Peace, 2001), Theory into Practice, Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy, and Holistic Education. She is on the Editorial Board of In Factis Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice.