Susan Hayward

Susan Hayward

Senior Advisor, Religion and Public Policy
Susie Hayward, Senior Advisor, Religion and Public Policy

Susan Hayward serves as Senior Advisor on Religion and Public Policy. In this role, she conducts research, develops in person and online trainings and educational resources in partnership with governmental and non-governmental entities, and writes and speaks on current events to enhance religious literacy in public policy broadly, and US foreign policy particularly, to advance human rights. Previously, Hayward worked as a Visiting Fellow for RPL (2020-2021) and as Associate Director for Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (2021-2023), helping design and launch the Certificate in Religion and Public Life program.

In her work for RPL, Hayward draws on her two decades of experience in refugee policy, human rights activism, and peacebuilding, including with the UN High Commission for Refugees, Carter Center, Advocates for Human Rights, and fourteen years working for and directing the Religion and Inclusive Societies program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. There, she worked closely with and consulted for the US State Department, the US Agency for International Development, the United Nations, European Union, and other multigovernmental, governmental, and non-governmental organizations. Her field work for USIP focused on Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Iraq. She has served or currently serves on the selection committee for international awards recognizing religious peacebuilders, including with the Niwano Foundation and the Tanenbaum Center, and as an advisor  to the Trans-Atlantic Policy Network for Religion and Diplomacy, Templeton Religion Trust, and Churches for Middle East Peace. Hayward is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

From 2010–2012 she coordinated an initiative exploring the intersection of women, religion, conflict and peacebuilding in partnership with the Berkley Center at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue. She co-edited a book on the topic entitled "Women, Religion and Peacebuilding: Illuminating the Unseen." Her research interests include religions in contexts of political violence (particularly in Asian and Buddhist-majority contexts), the role of religions in hampering and propelling women’s work for peace and justice, and religion in international affairs and human rights.

Hayward studied Buddhism in Nepal and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. She holds a bachelor's degree in comparative religions from Tufts University and master’s degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard Divinity School. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Georgetown University. She has taught at Georgetown and George Washington Universities, and serves as a regular guest lecturer and trainer at the Foreign Service Institute and universities worldwide on topics related to religion and international affairs. She publishes regularly in academic and policy fora.

Contact Information

p: 617-495-0766