Projects

‘The friendly, fun-looking teddy bear in the picture below is relatively innocuous on its own; but the fact that we can pick a Peace Pal off the shelf in the Pentagon gift shop raises broader questions about how we entwine military power and peace.’ Jenny Oberholtzer, Pentagon Peace Pals As team member Jenny Oberholzter observes … Read more

We spend increasing amounts of our time using digital tools, navigating virtual worlds and inhabiting cyber space. Policy-makers and researchers are alert to the threats posed by cyberwarfare; as we discussed in our Peace Debates, social media is frequently harnessed to drive both virtual and real conflict; and AI-enabled technologies are revolutionising conventional military tactics … Read more

Over the course of our project, we have benefited from the generosity of a host of guest lecturers – including feminist scholar, peacebuilding practitioner and storyteller Dr Roxani Krystalli. Together with her colleague Philipp Schultz, Krystalli is leading a research project called ‘A different kind of war story: centering love and care in peace and … Read more

In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted a Landmark Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325).  UNSCR 1325 was intended to mark a turning point for the representation and inclusion of women in politics and peace-building; but more than twenty years later, its implementation has been limited. Women remain marginalised from many decision-making spaces; they … Read more

‘There is no peace without justice’. This oft-repeated mantra papers over the complex reality of peacebuilding: while post-conflict justice is essential to sustainable peace, the search for justice can sometimes prove a barrier to reconciliation and post-conflict recovery. ‘Justice’ is also as challenging to define as ‘peace’. Justice for whom? Retributive justice, or restorative justice? … Read more

One of our team members – Ideja Bajra – has been diving deep into cell biology to explore its potential for visualising peace and peacebuilding in productive new ways. Using AI to help model cell structures, and drawing on research into brain health/healing and what we know about biological self-regulation at the cellular level, she … Read more

Music is a deeply affective art form. It can paint pictures with soundscapes and tell stories without words. Music and text can combine to support or subvert each other, adding new layers of meaning to already rich storytelling. Silences and musical dynamics can be powerful in themselves; and musical echoes and repeating rhythms can focus … Read more

Over the past three years, the Visualising Peace team has been exploring the power of photography to represent and help build peace. We have learnt a lot from scholars working in visual politics and from professional photojournalists like Hugh Kinsella Cunningham – who worked with us on a photography exhibition in June-July 2023, which featured … Read more

Dialogue is at the heart of peacebuilding. Adversarial styles of debate, in person and online, are driving conflict. These two truths have got us interested in exploring different approaches to discussion and debate, and the role that they can play in bringing people together or creating divides. Of course, this connects closely to our overarching … Read more

Several members of our research team have been exploring peace-storytelling from different angles. We have drawn on a range of scholarship and practice along the way, including developments in ‘useful fiction‘ and the work of the Narrative Transformation Lab. As Peter Singer and August Cole explain, Useful Fiction ‘works at the intersection of strategic narrative, … Read more