Dr Elaine Pratley

Dr Elaine Pratley is the founder of Peace Kitchen and Peace Inc., initiatives that use food and dialogue to build empathy and understanding across cultural and social divides. A qualified lawyer, Rotary Peace Fellow, Salzburg Global Asia Peace Innovator, and East-West Center Indo-Pacific Futures Fellow, Elaine works with schools, community groups, and organisations to approach conflict constructively and creatively. Her PhD at the University of Melbourne and upcoming book, Hungry for Peace (Edinburgh University Press, 2026), explore how everyday food practices can foster peace. She received the Rotary District 9800 Award for promoting sustainable peace and conflict resolution and is an affiliate of both the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

For me, impact isn’t measured in numbers but in moments of genuine human connection. When people sit together, share food, and truly listen, something shifts: walls turn into bridges, and empathy becomes action. Peace doesn’t begin in grand declarations. Peace begins at the table — in the simple, powerful act of recognising ourselves in one another.