Dr. Craig Higson-Smith leads the research department and has worked for CVT in various capacities for more than ten years. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. His mixed-methods dissertation focused on the development of contextually relevant models of torture rehabilitation for sub-Saharan Africa. He has over twenty-five years’ experience working with survivors of violence and torture at both individual and community levels. During his career he has been instrumental in founding and building civil society organizations that promote the care of torture survivors in several African countries. In South Africa, he co-founded the Sinani Programme for Survivors of Violence and the South African Institute for Traumatic Stress Studies, and he has consulted to service providers in Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. He has also worked in countries in Central America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. Craig worked extensively with people who testified before the South African Truth and Reconciliation, and participated in the collective reparations processes that followed that process. Apart from his interest in the rehabilitation of torture survivors, Craig has an interest in the psychological underpinnings of integrated security training for human rights defenders. He has authored and co-authored various peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters and books in the field of traumatic stress. He splits his time between CVT headquarters in the United States and his home in Johannesburg, South Africa.