International Peace-Builders In NI For Summer School

More than forty conflict management experts from around the world have arrived in Northern Ireland for an international summer school.

The policy-makers, researchers and peace activists will join local scholars and peace-builders for a week at the University of Ulster's Magee campus, run by INCORE, which is the university's link-up with the UN.

Delegates come from 15 countries including Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Japan, the United States, Australia and several European countries.

INCORE director Brandon Hamber said: "There is still a lot to learn from other places that are further down the line than Northern Ireland in their attempts to sustain peace. The INCORE summer school is a venue for exchanging lessons, building networks and equipping practitioners to continue to engage in vital long-term peace-building work."

Alongside modules about language and memory and a case study of Northern Ireland's transition, INCORE runs the Northern Ireland programme to provide participants with an opportunity to network and attend lectures on the Northern Ireland peace process, as well as on contemporary issues such as flags and emblems.

Deirdre Heenan, Provost of the Magee Campus, said that the INCORE International Summer School was "one of the highlights of the academic calendar" at Magee.

She said: "It reinforces the high quality work on conflict transformation and peacebuilding undertaken at INCORE and the University of Ulster, both in terms of research and impact. The on-going global interest in INCORE's work highlights that it is seen as an international centre of excellence in peace and conflict studies."

(NE)