Dr Wilhelm Verwoerd was born in South Africa and since 2002 has been working as a Programme Co-ordinator of the Survivors and Former Combatants Programme at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland. Before moving to Ireland he was a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of Stellenbosch (1990-2001) and was a researcher within the Cape Town office of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996-1998).
He has worked extensively with ex-combatants and survivors from all sides of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland, with the development of the SPN being the main focus of his work since 2004. Since June 2008 this work has been continued with his appointment as a Co-ordinator within the Irish Peace Centres Consortium (www.irishpeacecentres.org). He is the author of My Winds of Change published by Ravan Press and co-edited with Charles Villa-Vicencio, Looking Back, Reaching Forward: Reflections on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission published by Juta Publishing Co./ London: Zed Books. In 2008 his PhD, Equity, Mercy, Forgiveness: Interpreting Amnesty within the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was published by Peeters, Leuven.
