Category: Seminar

Invite: Oral Histories of the Troubles

We are delighted to welcome Professor Graham Dawson – INCORE Visiting Professor – to give a seminar entitled: 

“The Afterlife of Feelings in Oral Histories of the Troubles”

The seminar uses Cultural Studies and psychoanalytic theories and methods to explore the emotional dynamics in Troubles life stories and their impact on memory politics and conflict transformation.

Date:     10 December 2024
Time:     4pm-6pm
Venue:  Ulster University Belfast Campus, Room BD-01-023

Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/scL7wSEaX7

The Seminar

Professor Dawson will begin by introducing previous work on conflict memories and subjectivities that employs theories and methods from Cultural Studies and psychoanalysis to analyse the psychic and emotional dynamics within life stories of the Troubles, considering their significance for the politics of memory and conflict transformation. This paper will focus on his most recent work concerning oral histories in two collections: the Dúchas Oral History Archive at Falls Community Council in West Belfast and the oral histories recorded for the ongoing AHRC-funded project, Conflict, Memory, and Migration: Northern Irish Migrants and the Troubles in Great Britain (2019-22). Through close engagement with three interviews from these collections, Professor Dawson will discuss methods to hear, understand, and write about the afterlife of embodied feelings derived from experiences up to half a century ago, as well as their materialisation in the ‘flow’ and what is termed ‘associative diffraction’ of memory within an oral history conversation. In conclusion, reflections will be made on the implications of this approach—and of post-positivist oral history practice more generally—for critiquing the policy framework of ‘an inclusive oral history initiative’ in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Reconciliation and Legacy) Act 2023.

About Professor Dawson

Graham Dawson works in interdisciplinary cultural studies on popular memory of war and conflict, with a focus on the memories, legacies and afterlives of the Northern Irish Troubles in Ireland and Britain. 

His research investigates lived experience, subjectivity and memory as represented in oral histories and life stories; the temporal dynamics of ‘post-conflict’ culture; community-based memory-work; and the cultural politics of conflict transformation and historical justice. Author of Making Peace with the Past? Memory, Trauma and the Irish Troubles (2007) and co-editor of The Northern Ireland Troubles in Britain: Impacts, Engagements, Legacies and Memories (2017), he was Co-I on the oral history project, Conflict, Memory and Migration: Northern Irish Migrants and the Troubles in Great Britain (AHRC-funded 2019-22, continuing informally). His next book, Afterlives of the Troubles: Life Stories, Culture and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland, will be published by Manchester University Press in 2025. Graham was formerly Professor of Historical Cultural Studies and Director of the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories at the University of Brighton.

Invite: Nonviolence & Empowerment

Conflict Textiles, INNATE & the Hume O’Neill Chair in Peace (Ulster University) invite you to a discussion with Ramin Jahanbegloo on 28th November at 3.00pm (Belfast Room Ulster Museum Stranmillis Road Belfast).

Ramin is a political philosopher, from Iran, with a special interest in nonviolence.

Ramin Jahanbegloo has written numerous books and articles, the most recent being ‘Thinking Nonviolence: Struggle and Resistance’. The Ulster Museum’s current exhibition, ‘Threads of Empowerment’, displays many textiles which are testimonies to empowerment through nonviolent resistance, as well as being forms of resistanceand empowerment themselves. Ramin will discuss the relationship between nonviolence and empowerment, especially in the current challenging environment.

To register: https://tinyurl.com/raminnonviolence

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 Visions for Peace

On 29 March 2022, the Chair – with partners The John and Pat Hume Foundation, International Fund for Ireland (IFI), and Interpeace – hosted “Visions for Peace – Perspectives on Local and Global Youth Practice”.

Speakers addressed the questions: How do we engage young people in peacebuilding? What vision do our young people hold for a peaceful society? How does that influence what we prioritize when doing this work?

The event was Chaired by Professor Hamber with the following speakers:

Andy Hamilton is currently a Research Associate at Ulster University. He recently completed his PhD study titled Theorising Youth Sector Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland.

Eliška Jelínková is a Co-Director at the United Network of Young Peacebuilders and a co-chair of the Global Coalition on Youth Peace and Security.

Ali Altiok is a doctoral student in Peace Studies and Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. His research examines political inclusion and securitization of young people in the context of peacebuilding processes.

The seminar series is a partnership between Ulster University (INCORE, the Centre for Youth Research and Dialogue & TJI), The John and Pat Hume Foundation, John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair in Peace, International Fund for Ireland (IFI), and Interpeace.

Policing: 20 Years On

The John and Pat Hume Foundation held an important discussion ‘20 years on – Reflections on the New Beginning to Policing’ on the Magee Campus of Ulster University, 9 November 2021. The Chair introduced and hosted the discussion for Ulster University as a Hume Foundation partners. The valuable reflections of Denis Bradley, Peter Smith QC, Judith Gillespie and Brian Dougherty are available on the John and Pat Hume Foundation YouTube Channel.

Fire in the Belly: Online

The 3rd Youth, Peace & Security Seminar “Fire in the Belly: Lessons from young women peacebuilders from Somalia, Libya and Northern Ireland on inspiring leaders for peaceful change” was held on 1 October 2021. The full recording of the event is now available online.

The panel included:

  • Monica McWilliams: Emeritus Professor of Women’s Studies at the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University, Board member of the John and Pat Hume Foundation and a former Chairperson of Interpeace.
  • Hajer Sharief: A Libyan peace and human rights activist. She co-leads the work of the Together We Build It (TWBI) organization in Libya.
  • Ilwad Elman: A young female leader at the forefront of the Somali peace process. She co-founded the Elman Peace Centre and is an Advocate for the Kofi Annan Foundation.
  • Emma Johnston: A youth worker in NI, working with Youth Action Northern Ireland. She is a representative on Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform, the UK Joint Committee for women and the Irish NAP For Women Peace and Security.

The panel discussion is introduced by Professor Brandon Hamber, the John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair in Peace.

The seminar series is a partnership between Ulster University (INCORE, the Centre for Youth Research and Dialogue & TJI), The John and Pat Hume Foundation, John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair in Peace, International Fund for Ireland (IFI), and Interpeace.