Priscilla Hayner has received degrees from Earlham College and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She is best known for her expertise on truth commissions and transitional justice, and has focused her work on official truth-seeking measures in political transitions around the world. Hayner has worked as a consultant at the Ford Foundation and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She also served as a program officer for the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, where she focused on international human rights and global security.