Sofie Lilli Stoffel
Non-Resident Fellow
Sofie Lilli Stoffel is a McCloy scholar at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a non-resident fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. Previously, she was a research associate with GPPi, where she contributed to the institute’s work on humanitarian action and peace and security. Sofie’s main research focus is on the role of children in conflict and humanitarian crises, which is rooted in her interest in mitigating the impact of violence and trauma on communities and enabling sustainable peace.
During her time at GPPi, Sofie worked on the protection of civilians in areas of Iraq previously under ISIS control and co-authored a study and user guide on the logic of protection approaches. She also participated in a research project analyzing the crisis prevention spending of the world’s largest donors, with a special lens on Germany’s investments. She was also an editor of the PeaceLab Blog. In addition to her research role, Sofie contributed to many programmatic fields, including organizing and leading two German Forum on Security Policy sessions, editing an article series for the PeaceLab Blog on children, facilitating several workshops with local and international stakeholders in Iraq, serving as a speaker on panels on foreign policy and children, and moderating high-level events such as the G7 Bürgerdialog. Her analysis has been featured or appeared in Der Tagesspiegel, Alternatives Humanitaires, Policy Corner, and the PeaceLab blog, among others.
Sofie holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and sciences with a focus on international relations, conflict studies and child protection from Maastricht University’s honors program. In Maastricht, she taught the course “War and Violence” to high school students enrolled in TeenzCollege and served as a student advisor for the Department of Global Studies. In addition to her university work, she has held the positions of chief administrative officer and vice president at the German non-profit DMUN e.V., where she advocated for youth participation and empowerment at the United Nations. Sofie’s studies are being supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German National Academic Foundation.
