Madhawa "Mads" Palihapitiya is a conflict early warning expert with twenty years of experience in violence and atrocities prevention in several global hotspots. He serves as an Early Warning Consultant for the Signal Program. He is a practitioner of "third generation" citizen-based conflict early warning with notable academic work in the areas of technology, religion and the arts for conflict early warning and peace building. Over the years, Mads has developed several geospatial early warning tools that emphasize the need to gap the warning-to-response gap. He is an expert in mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods, ADR research and dispute systems design. Mads is also an expert in evaluation, particularly needs assessment, asset mapping and participatory methods.