Mark Brennan, Ph.D. is the UNESCO Chair for Community, Leadership, and Youth Development and Professor of Leadership and Community Development at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Brennan’s teaching, research, writing, and program development concentrate on the role of civic engagement, community, and leadership development in the youth, community, and international development process. His work has also increasingly focused on the role of youth as active contributors to peace building, social justice, and functioning societies. Dr. Brennan has over 25 years of experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing social science research related to community and youth development. All research outputs have been translated into teaching and outreach curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider international audience, as well as published in over one hundred peer reviewed journals and publications. Mark will be based at National University of Ireland, Galway working closely with the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre and others on research, programming, and policy formation around empathy education, youth voice, and youth activism toward peace and social justice.