Thanks to the Kroc Institute-Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Peacebuilding Fellowship, three visiting scholars will join the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies on campus in spring 2026 to pursue independent research projects.
The long–running fellowship program between the Kroc Institute and CRS began in 2006. Its aim is to host a CRS staff person (or a member of a partner organization engaged in peacebuilding) for a short-term research and writing post at the Kroc Institute, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. The opportunity gives the fellow a chance to reflect on and strengthen their peacebuilding work, translate their work into scholarship or policy documents, or do valuable, big picture planning for more engaged and sustained peacebuilding.
The fellowship will be divided between two projects this year, with one project conducted by a team of CRS staffers.
“We had one of our strongest applicant pools for this year’s fellowships, which made the final choices difficult,” said Caesar Montevecchio, assistant director of the Kroc Institute’s Catholic Peacebuilding Network, which sponsors the fellowship program.
“That said, the research proposals from the fellows selected are so tightly aligned with CPN’s research areas – specifically, extractives and environmental peacebuilding, and the leadership role of women in the Church and peacebuilding – that we felt it was prudent to open this year’s fellowship to multiple candidates.”
Following are this year’s Kroc-CRS fellows:
Isabel Aguilar Umaña and Cecilia Margarita Suárez have been actively engaged in peacebuilding efforts with CRS in Latin America and the Caribbean – Suárez since 2013 and Aguilar Umaña since 2015.
Suárez has served as the CRS Mexico and Latin America Peacebuilding Platform manager since 2020 and as the Mexico country manager since 2013. Aguilar Umaña is the technical director for the Peace, Social Cohesion and Justice Platform for the CRS Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office, after serving as its regional advisor on Violence Prevention and Peacebuilding from 2015 to 2024.
In 2020, they co-designed and launched the CRS/LACRO Platform for Peace, Social Cohesion, and Justice—a regional initiative that promotes horizontal exchange among faith-based institutions and integrates social cohesion and justice into CRS programming. The platform engages more than 80 strategic allies, promotes 24 peacebuilding methodologies, and sustains the “Walking Toward Peace” community of practice, where 16 organizations collaborate to strengthen capacities and advocate for peace within and beyond the Church.
While at the Kroc Institute, Aguilar Umaña and Suárez will examine how gender-transformative methodologies within faith-based institutions—particularly the Catholic Church—can elevate women as strategic peacebuilders and catalyze systemic change across Latin America and the Caribbean. Using a methodology that addresses trauma healing and economic empowerment, they will analyze the impact of women-led support groups in combination with Savings and Internal Lending Communities that have enabled women to assume leadership roles to address development and humanitarian challenges.
They will divide their fellowship in two-week increments, with Aguilar Umaña at the Kroc Institute from Feb. 16-27, followed by Suárez from March 16-30.
Rev. Michael K. A. Quaicoe is a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Cape Coast in Ghana who serves as the director of the Directorate for Governance, Justice and Peace for the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He is also the Catholic Chaplain to the Parliament of Ghana and a visiting lecturer at St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary in Sowutuom near Accra.
While at the Kroc Institute, Fr. Quaicoe will work on a study to explore the Catholic Church’s support of Ghana’s fight against illegal and irresponsible mining, locally known as galamsey. Illegal mining is both an environmental and economic concern, and is at odds with the protection of security, justice, and peace. Backed by Catholic Social Teaching, knowledge in integral ecology, and the Theology of Just Peace, the Church in Ghana endeavours to wage a strategic peacebuilding campaign to safeguard the environment and human dignity.
Fr. Quaicoe will analyze the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Justice and Peace structures and how it employs faith, moral authority, and community engagement to counter environmental degradation. His study will also address the Church’s mediation with and among state agencies, traditional leaders, civil society, and mining communities, situating this within formal and informal peace processes that link ecological justice to social cohesion. The end result will be a policy-oriented research paper that articulates a model of “ecological reconciliation,” with peace being inseparable from environmental stewardship.
He will be with the Kroc Institute from April 13-May 4.
Supporting scholarly research is a key objective of the Kroc Institute, with research fellowships being integral to this commitment. This year’s Kroc-CRS fellows will join six other scholars currently at the Kroc Institute, here through the Institute’s Visiting Research Fellows Program.
Originally published by at kroc.nd.edu on January 30, 2026.