Hello.

I use evidence-based strategies to build peace amid prolonged distrust, tension, or polarization.

My background spans 17 years of fieldwork and research in America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Biography

Ariel Heifetz Knobel is a consultant on bridging divides, police-community relations, and conflict transformation. She uses evidence-based strategies to increase trust and reduce polarization for communities, law enforcement, and local government.

Ariel specializes in the strategic design, delivery, and monitoring of engagement processes to ensure measurable and impactful outcomes. Most recently, she served as Conciliation Specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) in Washington, D.C.

Previously, Ariel led civil-police engagement at the Institute for American Policing Reform, where she designed and built a three-year pilot program for local leaders to tackle systemic public safety problems (launched in 2023). She is a regular instructor at PLECET: Professionalizing Law Enforcement-Community Engagement Training.

From 2012-2022, Ariel partnered with NGOs in the Middle East and Northern Ireland to develop, manage, facilitate and/or teach educational and bridge-building programs for government and community leaders. These programs convened professionals from diverse ideological and demographic backgrounds for shared learning and collaboration across divides.

In 2010, Ariel was granted a fellowship from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School to pursue field research in Northern Ireland. In 2007-2009, she led public diplomacy at the Israeli Consulate in Boston, where she managed community and interfaith relations across five states.

Ariel holds an M.A. in International Negotiation & Conflict Resolution from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. in Philosophy & Political Science from Columbia University.