Most speakers arrive at conflict from one direction: They are recognized for reaching the apex of their career. They are the bare none experts in the room, and they have something to say. They either have survived it, studied it, or mediated it. Emma Osong arrives from all three simultaneously; an aerospace / aviation engineer who measures the forces that move the earth, builds surveillance systems for plane, as a peace and justice advocate stands at the United Nations and the International Criminal Court fighting for victims of war, and as an author writes about conflict in three forms: memoir, workbook, and literary fiction (soon to be published).

This talk does not treat conflict as a problem to be solved. It treats conflict as the most reliable data source available about who we are, what we value, and what we are capable of building. That reframing from threat to information, from obstacle to fuel, is the central move of Emma’s body of work. Emma delivers across institutions / organizations and at the personal level, in small or in large rooms.