Sara holds a licence in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and a MA with a focus on human security and negotiation / conflict resolution from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, USA. During her studies, she worked in an orphanage in South Africa, interned with a local NGO in Mongolia, was a trainee at the Swiss Embassy in Nigeria and a volunteer at the African Division of "terre des hommes" in Geneva. After graduation, she worked as an intern with UNDP in East DR Congo. Since December 2009, Sara Hellmüller has been working as a Program Officer in the Mediation Program at swisspeace and recently started research for a PhD dissertation.