Digital Events & Public Engagement
Belfast-Berkeley Conversation Series - Conflicted Europe
Held on 21 June 2023, this event was the first of the Conversation Series. The Series is aimed at encouraging intellectual exchange between scholars from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of California in Berkeley and it is co-ordinated by Dr Merav Amir Institute Fellow (Legacy), Senior Lecturer in the School of Natural and Built and Environment at QUB, and Institute Fellow (Legacy) Professor Maruška Svašek, Professor of Anthropology at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, QUB.
Speakers included Dr Alexander Titov, Lecturer in Modern European History at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, QUB; Professor John Connelly, Professor of History, University of California in Berkeley and Professor Professor Maruška Svašek, Institute Fellow (Legacy) and Professor of Anthropology at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, QUB.
This event has been organised by the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics and the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.
Civil Rights: African American and Northern Irish Dimensions
This Webinar, held on 27 April 2023, examined the influences and relationships shared between the African American civil rights movement and the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.
Speakers included:
Dr Peter McLoughlin, Queen’s University Belfast
Dr Kipton E. Jensen, Morehouse College
Dr Justin McClinton, Morehouse College
Don Mullan, African American Irish Diaspora Network
This webinar was delivered in partnership with the African American Irish Diaspora Network and Morehouse College, Atlanta.
Harri Holkeri Lecture 2023
Perspective; Conscience; Integrity: Reflections from a Career in Diplomacy
At a time of profound change in the international political landscape, this lecture examines three of the constants that underpin diplomacy in almost all circumstances: perspective, compromise, integrity. Anne Anderson draws on her own extensive experience in diplomacy to provide some illustrations, as well as addressing some of today’s most pressing issues, including the conflict in Ukraine and the West’s increasingly complex relationship with China. She also applies the same prism in looking at the post- Brexit situation in Northern Ireland and the way ahead for the island as a whole.
Speaker: Dr Anne Anderson (Former Irish Diplomat)
Chair: Professor Richard English (Queen’s University Belfast)
Grounded on Purpose Podcast
'Grounded on Purpose' with Jennifer Duck of Belmont University, is an intentional space where people can get grounded together and gain insight from experts Jennifer has met in her personal, academic, and professional life as an Emmy Award winning TV producer and college professor.
As the United States has reached an unprecedented point of polarization in this current century, Professor English explains so eloquently how history can help us avoid a tipping point. “You can hear echoes of what's happened elsewhere and possibly even pre-echoes of what might happen elsewhere in these layered situations of political polarization and division,” Richard explains.
Listen to the full episode below:
Lessons learned from the Northern Ireland Peace Process
A conceptual and practical look into the Peace Treaty Initiative
The Peace Treaty Initiative (PTI) aims to facilitate global consideration of a new multilateral treaty purpose-built to incentivise and stabilise the pathway of negotiation in order to help prevent internal armed conflicts in the first place and end them once underway.
This special public event, held on 19 October 2022, was organised jointly by the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Justice and Security at Queen’s University Belfast and the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT).
The event brought together experts, practitioners and policy makers to learn first-hand about the main achievements and challenges with regards to the implementation of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and considered those alongside the design of the indicative text of the PTI
The R M Jones Lecture
1320, 1776 And all That: The Declaration of Arbroath, The Declaration of Independence and the Fate of Documents
Founding documents are parsed, revered and preserved but they can also be misread, mythologised and overlooked. This lecture examines the entangled fates of two such documents, the Scots “Declaration of Arbroath” (1320) and the US Declaration of Independence (1776), at a moment between the 700th anniversary of one and the 250th anniversary of the other. It shows that the two “declarations” were both diplomatic texts, rhetorically shaped, and part of sequences of similar documents that have been largely forgotten. The lecture took place on 18 May 2022.
Speaker: Professor David Armitage, Harvard University
Chair: Professor Richard English, Queen's University Belfast
Reflections on a United Ireland Seminar Series
The fourth seminar in QUB School of Law and DCU School of Law and Government Joint Seminar series: “Reflections on a United Ireland”.
The intensified interest in questions about the constitutional future of the island of Ireland is difficult to deny. The evolving dynamics of Brexit, and wider political trends, are creating the conditions for frequent speculation and much debate. This is often framed in the cautious language of advance planning, with widespread recognition of the need for detailed preparatory work.
The aim of this seminar is to consider the state of these discussions, the existing work, what remains to be done, and reflect on ways forward. The different discursive frameworks deployed suggest varying views on how this work should be practically advanced, and what should be prioritised. The suggestion here is that whatever timescale emerges, the preparatory effort remains valuable and will prove essential when the formal process begins.
Previous webinars can be accessed here.
Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis
on 24 March 2022, Professor Quassim Cassam offered an analysis of three varieties of political extremism. Methods extremism consists in the use of extreme methods in pursuit of one’s political objectives. Ideological extremism is a position in ideological space, and ideological extremists are those who endorse an extremist ideology. To be a psychological extremist is to have an extremist mindset, including extremist preoccupations, attitudes, and ways of thinking.
Quassim Cassam is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick and an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. He was previously Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University, Professor of Philosophy at UCL, and Reader in Philosophy at Oxford University.
The Lecture was followed by a Q&A session, chaired by Professor Richard English, Director of the Mitchell Institute.
The Leverhulme Lecture: 'Civil Wars: A European History'
On 1 December 2021, Professor Gerwarth shared his particular expertise on the history of war, violence, and conflict in the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, Gerwarth provoked wide-ranging discussion about the prevalence of civil violence, and how far that violence should be understood as imitative, self-contained, or part of a wider culture of European conflicts.
As Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Robert Gerwarth will deliver four major public lectures, the ‘Leverhulme lectures on the History of Civil Wars’. Two of these Leverhulme Lectures will be delivered at Oxford and a further two at Edinburgh University and Queen’s University Belfast.
Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture
Professor Richard English, Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security, and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, hosted Dr Sudhir Hazareesingh (University of Oxford) for a live online lecture and Q&A session on 23 November 2021 from 5.00pm to 6.30pm.
Toussaint Louverture was a former slave who became the charismatic leader of the seismic Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) resulting in the most successful revolt of enslaved people in modern history.
In Conversation with Professor Andrew Heyn
Professor Richard English, Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security, and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, hosted Andrew Heyn, UK Diplomat, for a live 'In Conversation' event on 11 November 2021.
This event was Andrew's inaugural address as Honorary Professor of Practice at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen's University.
Delivered from Queen's University's Council Chamber, the event was streamed live to an online audience.
Conflict Textiles and Truth Telling in Chile
Roberta Bacic of the Conflict Textiles Archive gave a talk on 2nd November on the intersection of truth telling and conflict textiles, and her own experiences of working for the Chilean truth commission.
This talk is linked to the exhibition of Conflict Textiles in the McClay Library. If you are on campus and want to visit the exhibition, it is on the ground floor of the McClay, in the area between the main desk and the short loan collection.
You can find out more here.
The talk can be viewed below:
Louise Haigh, Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, visits the Mitchell Institute
Queen's University Belfast and The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice were pleased to welcome Louise Haigh, Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who met with Professor Richard English, Director of the Mitchell Institute, and Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, for a speech and press conference on 11 November 2021.
The discussion focused on Higher Education sustainability and the University’s Widening Participation programme.
View the speech and press conference below.
Launch of Mitchell Institute in 2016
On 24 June 2016, The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice was formally launched by Senator George Mitchell who in the company of his family, the University's Vice Chancellor the late Professor Patrick G. Johnston and Institute Director, Professor Hastings Donnan, unveiled a plaque to mark the opening of the Institute as one of the University's four new Global Research Institutes.
In the first half of the event a panel of speakers chaired by BBC’s William Crawley reflected on the question of ‘What next for Northern Ireland?’, a question given an added edge following the outcome of the Brexit referendum, whose results had been announced only hours before. The panel included Rachel Green (postgraduate student on the Institute’s Conflict Transformation Masters programme); Jonathan Powell (Honorary Professor of Practice in the Mitchell Institute); Sarah Kirk (A-Level student from Rathmore Grammar School); Brendan O’Leary (International Fellow in the Mitchell Institute and Lauder Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania); Sasha Conlon (undergraduate in QUB School of Law); and Tim O’Connor (former Irish diplomat, Irish Department of Foreign Affairs),
In the second part of the programme, William Crawley facilitated a lively conversation between Senator Mitchell and best-selling author Colum McCann, whose novel TransAtlantic features Senator Mitchell and the role he played in negotiating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement as the key focus of one of the chapters.
The event was attended by the US Consul General, the Joint Secretary to the British-Irish Secretariat, local politicians, members of the public, academics and university staff.
Click here to view commentary on the launch:
https://vimeo.com/172417139/ac1efe6173
President Martti Ahtisaari launches Institute for Conflict Transformation in 2013
On 21 May 2013, Martti Ahtisaari launched the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice by delivering the first Harri Holkeri Lecture entitled ‘Egalitarianism in Conflict Resolution’.
The Institute for Conflict Transformation was subsequently incorporated into The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice when this was established in July 2015 (and formally launched in June 2016)
Martti Ahtisaari is a former President of Finland, Nobel Peace Prize winner and a UN mediator. He made a significant contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland and was on the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
Throughout his career, Martti Ahtisaari has been involved in international peace mediation and conflict resolution. He founded the organisation Crisis Management Initiative, to enable and facilitate the international community in preventative diplomacy, peace making and post-conflict state building. He continues his role as facilitator in conflict resolution across the world, including Indonesia, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia. Between 2005 and 2008 he was the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the future status process for Kosovo.
To listen to an interview with President Martti Ahtisaari, please click the link below:
https://mediasite.qub.ac.uk/Mediasite/Play/88f0d78656ff44d8a7416d096b2bec401d
Contested Resonances: Creativity, Listening and Performance in Conflict Transformation
The interdisciplinary conference was hosted virtually online by the Senator George, J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast. It examined conflict and post-conflict contexts through sound in performative practice.
Themes included:
- Peacebuilding efforts by music-based community arts initiatives;
- Sonic-arts and theatrical re-soundings of conflict;
- Creative and musical interventions in conflict and post-conflict societies;
- Sound-based methodologies for exploring the narratives and everyday experiences of people in post-conflict contexts.
To view all the presentations please click the link below.
The Real Thing: How Does the Taliban Keep Going?
The Taliban Movement has recently made rapid military advances across Afghanistan. The Real Story is an in-depth current affairs programme on BBC. This week Ritula Shah sought to explain the rise of the Taliban Movement and what it means for Afghanistan. Michael Semple was one of four world-leading experts on the Taliban and spoke on the basis of his research conducted in the Mitchell Institute.
To listen to the podcast on BBC Sounds please visit the link below:
Annual Postgraduate Conference 2021
The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute hosted this years annual postgraduate conference that was organised by a small committee of students affiliated with the Institute, including PhD students and postgraduates on the MA in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice.
Focused on a broad theme related to peace, security and justice chosen by the student committee, the conference is entirely student-led. The annual conference provides a platform for postgraduate students and researchers from Queen’s and beyond, to showcase their research to a wide audience and to build networks with researchers from across the world.
This year’s conference on ‘Resistance: Pasts, Presents and Futures’ took place on 5 August 2021 and explored the many meanings and manifestations of resistance.
To view the key note by Mel Buer, Journalist - 'F*ck your Newsroom': Cultivating Community and Resistance with Anti-Capitalist Media, please click here.
GRI Fellow Andrew Thomson presents at Global Peace Index 2021 launch
The Global Peace Index (GPI) is the flagship publication of the Institute for Economics & Peace and is now on its fifteenth edition. The GPI presents a comprehensive analysis of trends in peace worldwide, the economic value of peace and how to develop peaceful societies.
The virtual panel discussion took place on 1 July 2021 and focused on the latest trends in peacefulness as well as understanding the concepts of Peace.
Serge Stroobants, Director Europe and MENA from the Institute for Economics & Peace, lead the discussion. Serge was joined by Dr Andrew Thomson from the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice and Enda Young of the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute.
The event was recorded and can be viewed at - The Global Peace Index 2021: Understanding Peace
Mitchell Institute Hon Prof Jonathan Powell in Conversation with Prof Richard English
The recording of the ‘In Conversation’ event featuring Mitchell Institute Honorary Professor Jonathan Powell and Mitchell Institute Distinguished Professorial Fellow Richard English that took place on Wednesday 19 May 2021, is now available to view by clicking the link - 'In Conversation with Jonathan Powell'.
US Ireland Summit 2021 Special Report
The US Ireland Summit 2021, held on 1 July 2021, was a unique one-day conference steering the conversation around the US and Irish political, business and economic agendas and helping both Irish and American leaders capture the growing opportunities that are being fostered by stronger transatlantic relations.
Mitchell Institute Honorary Professor of Practice Rory Montgomery contributed to the panel on post-Brexit stability and rebuilding EU, UK and US relations.
To view the Special Report that accompanied the conference, please click the link below:
Book launch of James Waller, A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland
The Institute of Irish Studies and The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice were pleased to host the launch of the new book ‘A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland’ (Oxford University Press, 2021), by Dr James Waller (Keene State College).
Please click the video presentation of the book launch.
Honorary Professor of Practice Rory Montgomery delivers his Inaugural Lecture
Professor of Practice Rory Montgomery is a former Irish diplomat who served as Permanent Representative to the EU, Ambassador to France and Second Secretary General at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade.
He gave his inaugural lecture on 27 April 2021. Mitchell Institute Fellow, Professor Christopher McCrudden FBA, introduced the lecture and moderated the Q&A.
To see the video presentation please click "The Good Friday Agreement and a United Ireland".
Institute Honorary Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela delivers The Fellows Lecture at Harvard
Pumla is a Visiting Fellow in the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, and she recently delivered The Fellows Lecture on 29 March 2021.
To see this please click 'Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa'.
Dr Dina Zoe Belluigi on the work of the Council for At Risk Academics (Cara)
For further information and to watch this podcast please click Episode 8, Season 2 of the Social Charter Podcast Series.
Building Peace Across Religious Divides in Nigeria by Professor Darren Kew
Nigeria is one of the few nations of the world that is divided evenly between Muslims and Christians, and violent conflicts frequently erupt across that divide. Many groups are working to build greater peace between Muslims and Christians, including the Interfaith Mediation Centre (IMC), which has gained global attention for its work across Nigeria and elsewhere.
Professor Darren Kew of UMass Boston has spent much of the last 15 years working with IMC and many other Nigerian groups like it, and will present some of his findings on 1) the model that IMC has developed for bridging religious divides, which relies heavily not only on religious conviction, but also the social status associated with religious leaders, and 2) the impacts this work has had on divided communities in Nigeria. Implications for religious peacebuilding in other societies like Northern Ireland will be discussed as well.
To watch this video please click this link.
John Paul Lederach in conversation with Institute Fellow Dr Gladys Ganiel
Professor Lederach, an internationally acclaimed expert in conflict transformation, reflected on the most significant advances in conflict transformation over the course of his career; his own research and practice; religion and reconciliation; and the prospects for peacebuilding in Northern Ireland and further afield.
He was in conversation with Dr Ganiel, a Fellow in the Mitchell Institute, who specialises in religion, conflict and reconciliation. This event was related to the 4 Corners Festival organised in partnership with the Senator George J Mitchell Institute, QUB.
To watch this video please click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhy_Zgr2LuM
Shaping a Better World: Mitchell Institute Peace Lecture by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
'After Remorse: The Impossibility of Repair'
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. She has published extensively on victims and perpetrators of gross human rights violations.
Listen to the podcast please click Shaping a Better World podcast series.
Watch the full video please click Annual Peace Lecture.
Coronavirus and The Impact On Refugee Communities
In this podcast, we hear reflections on the unfolding coronavirus crisis on refugee communities in Europe and further afield. We hear from academics at Queen's University, who have first-hand experience dealing with refugee communities and how the pandemic has impacted them. A listen for all those interested in human rights and equality.
In Episode 1, we hear from Dr Fiona Murphy on her reflections of the impact of Coronavirus/Covid-19 on refugee communities in both Turkey and Ireland.
Peace Music
This musical segment entitled 'Peace Music' was composed by Level 3 students Emir Holohan (piano), Yanze Zhu (guitar) and Annabel Fry (vocals) and produced by Raphael Frank. It was composed as an exercise on the module 'Politics of Performance', which is convened and delivered by Mitchell Institute Fellow and Research Theme Lead, Professor Fiona Magowan.
To hear please click Peace Music .
Mitchell Institute Professors reflect on the implications of the US Election and Foreign Policy for Northern Ireland, the UK, Ireland and the EU
Chaired by the Institute's Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Richard English, the panel included two of the Institute's Honorary Professors of Practice Jonathan Powell and Rory Montgomery, as well as US Consul General in Belfast, Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau. Former Institute Fellow, Julie Norman, now at University College London, introduced the event.
Annual Peace Lecture - Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
The Senator George J. Mitchell Peace Lecture Series celebrates and recognises Senator Mitchell’s contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process and to conflict resolution in the Middle East. His aim of transforming conflict and promoting social justice in Northern Ireland and across the world is shared by our Institute.
The Annual Peace Lecture for 2020 was delivered by Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, who is Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. Pumla has published extensively on victims and perpetrators of gross human rights violations, and her current research interest is in intergenerational repercussions of historical trauma and exploring what the “repair” of these transgenerational effects might mean in societies where victims, perpetrators, and their descendants live together in the same country.
To see the video presentation please click the Annual Peace Lecture.
The Virtual Fireside Chat Presentation by Madison Clark
Madison Clark delivered a presentation titled, “Si vis pacem, para bellum: Everyday women, militarised behaviours, and opportunistic gendered violence” on 21 October 2020.
Positioned at an intersection of gender, security, military, and conflict studies, Madison's project draws parallels between everyday women's behaviours and those of formally militarised combatants. Madison utilizes feminist theory, original survey data, and experimental autoethnography to illustrate how, while in public spaces, women act as soldiers out of concern for opportunistic gendered violence.
To see this recording please click Virtual Fireside Presentation
Event: Professor Richard English on ‘Religion and Terrorism’
The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.
10-Minute Talks are a new series of pre-recorded talks from Fellows of the British Academy.
Speaker: Professor Richard English FBA, Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast.
Video of Professor Richard English on 'Religion and Terrorism'
New podcast series on conflict and peace-building launched
This new eight-part podcast series from Queen’s University, Belfast, looks at conflict and peace-building around the world, from Afghanistan to Ireland, Colombia and South Africa to the Middle East.
Academics share their experiences and reflections on how societies can transition from conflict to peace and how the traumatic political legacies of conflict can endure and continue to shape political discourse today.