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.
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.
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.
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.
A new article has been published by Wilhem Verwoerd, Alistair Little and Brandon Hamber that builds on our work on relational peacebuilding. It is entitled “Peace as Betrayal: On the Human Cost of Relational Peacebuilding in Transitional Contexts” and was published in the International Journal of Transitional Justice. Visit the journal website, or download the accepted version here.
This article explores the micro-dynamics of intragroup betrayal and self-betrayal that can be evoked by relational peacebuilding between groups. The painful accusation of betrayal by close, family-type group members and internally feeling like a betrayer as a result of working with the ‘other side’ is presented as an underestimated human cost of relational peacebuilding. This understanding emerged from an international ‘Beyond Dehumanisation’ research project, which included experienced peace practitioners from South Africa, the Israel-Palestine region and the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. The emerging diagnostic framework is supported by (and provides empirical support for) theories of betrayal that stress how deeply relational betrayal is. The resonance with Margalit’s theory of betrayal as the ‘undermining of thick relations’ is especially strong. ‘Peace as betrayal’ suggests the need for more practical support for peacebuilders and can also be applied more widely to render resistance to transitional justice processes more visible.
The Chair is delighted to announce a new Summer School on the Magee Campus of Ulster University on 8-18 July 2022. Applications open.
The Peacebuilding, Public Order and Conflict Management Summer School run by The Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, (UMASS) in partnership with Ulster University’s INCORE and the John Hume and Tip O’Neill Chair in Peace and community-based charity International Peace Education Resources (IPER) invite applications for the 2022 Summer Institute on Peacebuilding, Public Order and Conflict Management. This unique programme is back in a new location in person after two years of pandemic shut down.
Described by one former participant as ‘life-changing’, this exciting course is led by Professor Marie Breen-Smyth. It is delivered by UMASS and Ulster University professors from INCORE and the Hume O’Neill Chair, Rural Community Network, Holywell Trust, Bloody Sunday Trust, the Newgate Centre, as well as high profile activists and politicians from across the spectrum in Northern Ireland.
This year, we will be based in person on Ulster University’s Magee Campus, in Derry Londonderry. The programme includes classroom-based work, a film screening and panel discussions alongside study visits to sites and events in Armagh, Portadown, Derry Londonderry and Belfast where you will meet local community organisations who participate in the design and delivery of the programme.
The Summer School is also an international experience. Sitting with diverse classmates from around the globe, participants will draw comparisons between the local situation and other societies such as South Africa, Nigeria and Israel / Palestine.
Application Form, Bursary Information and Summer School Flyer
If you want to find out more about costs, logistics and bursaries, click here.
This paper explores the key issue of mental health and psycho-social services (MHPSS), from a youth-specific perspective. Drawing on the assertions and recommendations of the YPS Progress Study, and coupled with the increasing attention to MHPSS within the sustaining peace agenda, this policy brief pays special attention to the role of youth-specific psycho-social services as a vital dimension of transformative youth resilience, essential to both addressing the consequences and prevention of violent conflict.
This is a report commissioned by Interpeace for their Outside the Box: Amplifying youth voices and views on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) policy and practice series.
