Jeremy Simons is a trainer, consultant, and researcher with expertise in Conflict Transformation (CT), Restorative Justice (RJ), Appreciative Inquiry (AI), and accompanying Indigenous Peoples (IP) in peacebuilding advocacy. Born and raised in the Philippines, Jeremy earned a BA in International Affairs (1997, Gordon College USA) and MA in Conflict Transformation (2002) from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.
After completing his graduate studies, Jeremy, along with his family, lived in Denver (USA) for 7 years in an urban poor community, accompanying various organizations as a community organizer and restorative justice coordinator. Between 2004-08, in partnership with the local Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program, Denver Public Schools, and the advocacy organization Padres Unidos, he helped develop and implement the first large-scale, urban, public school restorative justice program in the United States.
In 2008 Jeremy returned to the Philippines as a development consultant and trainer, where he co-developed the Community-Based Restorative Justice Course at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute while working in monitoring and evaluation of the institute’s resource-based conflict transformation program. Jeremy has supported asset-based community development programs among Lumad (IP) and Moro (Muslim) communities of Mindanao, and has conducted RJ, CT, and AI trainings and workshops in various academic, organizational, religious, and community organizations across the Philippines.
Between 2014-16 he taught conflict transformation at the Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, and consulted with the University of San Carlos (Cebu City), St. Scholastica’s College (Manila) and the De La Salle University – College of St. Benilde (Manila), Philippines in university-level restorative justice programs.
Jeremy helped edit the publication “Moving Beyond: Towards Transitional Justice in the Bangsamoro” and has been published in various print and on-line media, notably his “Pagdaro sa Kalinaw” (Plowing Peace) column in mindanews.com information service. He has presented at conferences in Japan (2014), Bangladesh (2015), and Otago (2017), and his doctoral research revolves around the elucidation of restorative leadership for transformative justice in the Asian and Mindanao context.