Welcome Address

Olayinka Hakeem Babalola

Rotary International President, Olayinka Hakeem Babalola, is the 131st President of Rotary International (RI). He became the RI President on 1st July 2026. Babalola is a member of the Rotary Club of Trans Amadi, Nigeria and began his Rotary journey in 1984 as a Rotaractor. He graduated in engineering in 1988 and worked for 25 years in the oil and gas industry, holding senior positions in Shell PLC. He founded an oil and gas infrastructure delivery company, and an executive coaching and organizational performance advisory group. Babalola and his wife, Preba, live in the city of Port Harcourt. In addition to his many Rotary accolades, he is a Rotary Positive Peace Activator and this is his first Rotary Presidential Peace Conference.


Keynote

Gordon McInally

Gordon R. McInally is the Chair-elect of the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation for 2026-27 and he was the President of Rotary International during the 2023-24 Rotary Year. He is a member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland. London held its first Presidential Peace Conference in February 2024 and this was headlined by Gordon. He has been a firm proponent of Positive Peace.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG KC is a British statesman who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from 2010 to 2015. He served in various roles as a Cabinet minister, including Secretary of State for Scotland from 1986 to 1990, Defence Secretary from 1992 to 1995, and Foreign Secretary from 1995 to 1997. He was appointed Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament by the Prime Minister on 6 July 2010. Security. In December 2015, Rifkind was appointed a Visiting Professor by King's College, London in their Department of War Studies. He was also invited to become a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Dr Fatou Bensouda

Dr Fatou Bensouda served as Chief Prosecutor of the ICC from June 2012 to June 2021, after having served as a Deputy Prosecutor in charge of the Prosecutions Division of the ICC from 2004 to 2012. She spoke at the 2024 Rotary Peace Conference about the work of the ICC. She has since won a number of Global Peace Awards and will provide more insights on her expertise No Peace without Justice
Before that she was Minister of Justice and Attorney General of The Gambia from 1998 to 2000. She has also held positions as a legal adviser and a trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). She is currently High Commissioner of The Gambia to the UK.


Guest

Steve Killelea

As a global philanthropist, Steve Killelea has laid the foundations to develop an entirely new understanding of peace. He founded the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) in 2007, as an independent not for profit global research institute analysing the intertwined relationships between business, peace, and economic development. Steve's funding and thought leadership behind the Institute would see him recognised as one of the World's 100 Most Influential People on reducing the onset of armed violence. He is also the founder of the Global Peace Index, the world's leading quantitative measurement of global peacefulness. He brings to the Conference some new Rotary & IEP developments in the field of Peace.

Professor Prathivadi Anand

Professor Prathivadi Anand is Head of the Rotary Peace Center at Bradford University. He is Professor of Public Policy and Sustainable Development and Head of the Division of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. He is an environmental economist with a keen interest on sustainable cities, in particular on the interface between economic, social and environmental dimensions of human wellbeing and issues of multi-dimensional evaluation using Amartya Sen’s capability approach.

Yasmine Sherif

Yasmine Sherif (Sweden) is a Lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M). She has 35 years of experience with the United Nations. She served as the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) for over eight years, establishing and leading the Education Cannot Wait Fund towards $1.6 billion in financial resources and reaching 14 million children with quality education in crises-countries. She has served in some of the most crisis affected countries and regions on the globe and her expertise spans conflict and post-conflict, education, humanitarian, development, human rights, advocacy & communication, gender, peacekeeping and United Nations policies. She has received numerous awards, including Sweden’s UN Friend of the Year award, the Global Educator Award in the United States, Who is Who in America in 2024, and the prestigious Mother Teresa Award.

Professor Chris O’Callaghan

Professor of Respiratory and Paediatric Medicine, Head of Respiratory, Critical Care and Anaesthesia section at the UCL Great Ormond Street Hospital Institute of Child Health. Founder and joint CEO of the not for profit organisation 'World Medical Education'. Honorary Professor of Paediatrics, Beijing Children's Hospital & Capital Medical University and China's National Research for Respiratory Disease. Visiting professor University of Hong Kong. Advisor to the World Health Organisation on Multimedia Education: Maternal and Child Health and Deafness and Hearing Loss. Translational Research & Enterprise BRC theme lead for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital BRC. Council Member of the Global Paediatric Respiratory Alliance. Professor O’ Callaghan has been working closely with Rotary to optimise the delivery and use of polio vaccines in the effected regions.

Professor Maryna Dolzhenko

Professor Maryna Dolzhenko is Professor of Cardiology, Dr Sc Medicine, President - Ukrainian Primary Care Cardiovascular Association and Head of Cardiology Department Shupyk NUHC. She is also Head of the Ukraine Section, Ukraine-RGB&I Inter Country Committee(ICC). Professor Maryna will explain how the RGB&I – Ukraine ICC Promotes and Strengthens Positive Peace. Rtn Prof Maryna is Founder and Past President of the Rotary Club of Kyiv Synergy. She developed strong ties with Rotary in London when she jointly led the initiative to create a Rotary Peace Square in Kyiv with Rotarian Tetiana Gick from RC Westminster West in 2018. The Rotary Peace Square in Kyiv serves as a focal point for residents and Rotarians in their resolve to withstand the enormous painful challenges caused by the Russian invasion. Professor Maryna and her fellow Rotarians have been working tirelessly on various humanitarian relief efforts, creating hope for Ukrainians and she will provide examples of how the ICC promotes Positive Peace.

Maria Vittoria Gargiulo

Maria Vittoria Gargiulo was previously the Project Manager for Rotaract MUN Salerno in Italy. She is also known as Mavi and is a Rotaractor and Rotarian based in Salerno. She is a Rotary-IEP Positive Peace Activator who belongs to the inaugural European cohort which passed out in November 2021. Mavi is a physicist from the Rotary Club Salerno Est and Rotaract Club Campus Salerno dei Due Principati, the first University based Rotaract in Italy. She spoke at the January 2026 Rotary International Assembly in Orlando, USA. She will talk about the interlinks between the Positive Peace Framework and Rotary’s Seven Areas of Focus and how these underpin the UN Global Goals in the form of the Global Impact Framework.