Peace Studies stood out from the crowd at the UNE Autumn graduations for Arts, Humanities and BCSS. Seven out of the 13 PhD conferrals were in the field of Peace Studies, while two of these – Dr Johanna Garnett and Dr Vanessa Bible – were recipients of the Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal.

The theses examined vital contemporary issues such as:

*          the International Criminal Court’s impact on peace processes in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda,

*          organic agriculture and environmental peacebuilding in Myanmar,

*          peacebuilding and recovery in post-war Nepal,

*          cultivating environmental peace in north-east NSW,

*          peace infrastructure and state-building in the Philippines,

*          radicalized Islamic groups in Syria (History/Peace Studies), and

*          the role of spirituality in Asia-Pacific development.

In these times of ongoing conflict, such as in Syria and Myanmar, with rising tensions involving North Korea, China, the USA and Russia, and widespread concern about the increasing impact of global warming, it is encouraging to see students engaging with important global issues in erudite and practical ways. Peace Studies has an outstanding rate of successful completions, including from some of the poorest communities on Earth. It has a growing international reputation for excellence in areas such as peacebuilding in Africa and environmental peace. The niche field of Peace Studies creates graduates and research outputs of global relevance and significant social, environmental and economic benefits to society.

Image caption: 

L-R Safal Ghimire,  Linus Malu, Marty Branagan, Peyman Rohani Farid, Bert Jenkins, Helen Ware, Grant Pink (BCSS environmental graduate), Johanna Garnett, Vanessa Bible, Vincent Blokker (PAIS graduate), Francis O’Rourke (History graduate), Karin von Strokirch (PAIS supervisor) and Balázs Kovács.