Almost twenty-five years have passed since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement but the legacy of the past lives on in Northern Ireland.

Held on 22 February 2023, this conference brought together academics, faith leaders, and practitioners to explore the role of forgiveness in dealing with the past.  The recordings of Part 1 and Part 2 are available below.

Researchers on the Forgiveness and Future-building project, from the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, presented their findings from a two-year project that investigated the role of forgiveness in post-conflict societies from both a psychological and computational perspective.  

The project involved research in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and South Sudan and analysed differences in how people intuitively reason about forgiveness in the aftermath of conflict. Read more here.

Using AI technology, the team has also put together a computational model that builds on previous work on modelling intergroup conflict in Northern Ireland.

This event was hosted by the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute and was delivered in partnership with the Woolf Institute in Cambridge.

Speakers

Prof Richard English, Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice; Professor, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr Katherine O’Lone, Research Fellow, Woolf Institute, Cambridge

Dr Justin E. Lane, Co-Founder and CEO, CulturePulse  

Prof F. LeRon Shults, Co-founder and CRO, CulturePulse; Institute for Global Development and Social Planning, University of Agder, Norway.

Prof John Brewer, Professor, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work; Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast 

Prof Fiona Magowan, Professor, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics; Theme Lead (Religion and Peacebuilding), Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast

Pavol Kosnač, Director, DEKK Institute, Slovakia 

Rev Dr Gary Mason, Director, Rethinking Conflict  

Prof Gladys Ganiel, Professor, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work; Fellow (Religion and Peacebuilding) Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast

Judith Thompson, former Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of Northern Ireland

AGENDA

Part 1: Forgiveness and Conflict

1.30pm - 3.00pm, 22 University Square, Room 01/005.

• Prof Richard English: Welcome (and chair) (5 mins)
• Dr Katherine O’Lone: The Psychology of Forgiveness and Future-building (20 mins)
• Dr Justin E. Lane and Prof F. LeRon Shults: Modelling Forgiveness and Stability (35 mins)
• QUB respondent: Prof John Brewer (15 mins)
• Q&A (15 mins)

3.00pm - 3.30pm (tea/coffee), Junction Foyer, Main Site Tower.

Part 2: Understanding Conflict: From the Global to the Local

3.30pm - 5.00pm, 22 University Square, Room 01/005.

• Gladys Ganiel: Intro (and chair) (5 mins)
• Pavol Kosnač: Studying Active Conflict and Paramilitaries (25 mins)
• Dr Gary Mason: Conflict and Beyond - A Local Perspective (25 mins)
• QUB respondent: Prof Gladys Ganiel (10 mins)
• Q&A (15 mins)
• Judith Thompson: Final thoughts (5-10 mins)

Image credit: Claudio Schwarz, Unsplash.