Conflict Textiles Feasibility Study

Ulster University and Conflict Textiles Trust, have collaborated over the 15 years of the existence of the Conflict Textile Collection, and now share a longer term (2-3 year) joint goal of establishing a permanent repository for the Conflict Textiles collection which will:

  • provide a more durable structure for its future;
  • ensure that the collection is used to its full potential in education, research, awareness raising and exhibitions;
  • and facilitate the continued growth of the reach and scope of the Conflict Textiles collection.

A feasibility study is being commissioned to consider the best way forward and to clarify the most effective means to manage and sustain the collection in the future.

Details of the call for expressions of interest can be downloaded here. Deadline for submissions 5pm, 19 July 2024.

Beyond Intragroup Betrayal

Continuing our work on the issue of betrayal in peacebuilding Wilhem Verwoerd, Alistair Little and Brandon Hamber have published a new article in the Peacebuilding journal entitled “Beyond intragroup betrayal during intergroup relational peacebuilding”.

The article is open access and can be downloaded here.

This article addresses a neglected human cost of relational peacebuilding, identified in an earlier article on ‘peace as betrayal’. The focus here is how relational peacebuilders can respond to painful accusations of betrayal by family-type group members evoked by working with the ‘other side’. Continuing to draw on the reflections of experienced peace practitioners from South Africa, the Israel-Palestine region and the conflict in and about Northern Ireland, a contrasting distinction is made between two routes: a ‘clarification’ route that explains why working with ‘them’ is not a betrayal of ‘us’ vs a ‘counter-critique’ response that attempts to turn the traitor tables on the accusers. An evaluative discussion of the counter-critique route explores the pitfalls of political abuse, avoidance of shared responsibility and underestimating ‘thin’ relations (Margalit), as well as the complementary potential of the clarification and the counter-critique routes beyond peace as betrayal.

Victim Mobilisation Paper

Professor Hamber delivered a paper entitled “Victim Mobilisation: An antidote to denialism, a route to new relationships?” at the Conference on Intergroup Relations After Violent Conflict: Insights from Research and Practice. The conference was held at The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University on 5-6 October 2023. The paper can be downloaded here.

Harvard University, Boston

Peace Summit 2023

The John and Pat Hume Foundation and Community Dialogue, in partnership with the Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation, Youth Action NI, Holywell Trust, Ulster University and Integrated Education Fund today launched the Peace Summit 2023. Twenty-five years on from the Good Friday Agreement the summit has took stock of the status of the peace process. The Chair played an integral role in working with the partners in drafting the Consultation Report launched on 3 March 2023. The partners are keen to hear your views on the peace process in Northern Ireland 25 years on. Read the document and reply to b.hamber@ulster.ac.uk.

Peace Summit Consultation DocumentDownload

Medical Education in Conflict


As Ulster University’s School of Medicine moves into its second year of existence, and our medical students start to undertake more clinical placement, we have been thinking more about the places where they will work and the patients with whom they will interact. Our partner medical school is St George’s University of London, and so all curriculum materials relate to a London based environment.

Our own setting is of course different, and one thing that sets it apart from London is the fact that is recognised to be a society emerging from conflict . Through its international Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), Hume O’Neill Peace Chair and work in the Schools of Psychology and Social Sciences (to give some examples), Ulster University has committed to exploring the impact of conflict on a range of areas in Northern Ireland.

The Chair will participate in an initiate conversation with students and educators about their views of medical education in a post-conflict setting. If you would like to join us on Weds 16 November 2022, 6:30pm (online) sign up here.

Youth, Peace & Security: Article

In September 2022, the Chair with Eliz McArdle published the article “Youth, Peace and Security: Fostering local and global exchange” in Fund Focus, The Newsletter of the International Fund for Ireland. The article outlines some of the lessons from the ongoing Youth, Peace and Security Leadership Series. The article can be read in full here.

The Problem with Men?

On 5 August 2022, the Chair delivered the PJ McGrory Public Human Rights Lecture as part of the Féile an Phobail.

The lecture discussed masculinity in a global landscape of rising national fervour, armed conflict, gender-based violence, pandemics and endemic inequalities. It explored the link between violent masculinities and inter-personal, community and political violence and instability, while calling for new understandings of masculinities that can disrupt dominant narratives and lead to positive social change.