Research School on Peace and Conflict

The Research School on Peace and Conflict is organized by the University of Oslo (UiO), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The objectives of the Research School have been to educate a new generation of peace and conflict researchers and to create a strong interdisciplinary network of doctoral students and supervisors within peace and conflict studies in Norway and internationally. The school offers research courses and training for PhD candidates across disciplines, filling a void in Norwegian and international PhD education. The Research School has contributed to strengthening Norway's leading position within international peace and conflict research. The PhD courses has covered various methods and a range of topics from ongoing research at the partner institutions. Since the start as a National Research School in 2013, the school has offered 38 different PhD courses of 5-10 ECTS, with more than 400 different participants from over 170 different universities, many of whom followed several courses. Both members of the Research School and external PhD candidates have participated in the courses. Participants are primarily from Norway, Scandinavia and other European countries, but all world regions have been represented. Over the past three years, there has been a clear increase in interest from students from North and South America, Asia and Africa. Topics covered by the courses includes: International Mediation - Theory, Cases and Skills; Civil Resistance - Causes and Consequences; The Dynamics of Civil War and International Conflict; Governance, Identity and War; Security in the Artic; Conflict Trends; the Anthropology of Humanitarianism; Migration Research; Business for Peace; Societal security in Europe; Beyond Transitional Justice; Religion, Conflict and Violence; Interconnections of Finance and Security; Nuclear Weapons; Humanitarian Action and the Protection of Civilians; Cyprus Course on Peace and Conflict; The Arab Spring; The Political Economy of Genocide; Gender, Peace and Security; Emerging Military Technologies; Civil Resistance in an Age of People's Uprisings; Qualitative Methods and the Study of Civil War; Advanced Qualitative Methods in Conflict Studies; Ethnographic fieldwork methodology; Process Tracing; Advanced Quantitative Methods; Advanced Social Statistics; and Methods in Critical Security Studies. 9 of these courses have been arranged more than once. The courses have featured lecturers from more than 10 different disciplines, and more than 35 per cent of the lecturers have been women. The courses have predominantly been developed through collaborations among scholars from the three partner institutions, but also in cooperation with other research environments in Norway and abroad. Members of the school have had direct access to the PhD courses and an integrated set of internal seminars (symposiums) and generic skills training lead by Lynn P. Nygaard - special adviser at PRIO. The Research School has organized 16 symposiums since 2013. Members are also offered designated overview courses on peace and conflict research at PRIO's Cyprus Centre, and visiting research fellowships at PRIO for 1-2 months, with the opportunity of tuition by PRIO researchers. Forming an international network of PhD candidates and their supervisors, the school has thus far had 132 members. By the end of 2020, 70 members had defended their PhD dissertations, and additional 25 members had defended, or are expected to defend their dissertations within the end of 2021. 35 of the 132 members came from UiO (from 12 different departments); 15 from NTNU; other universities in Norway (8); Sweden (15); Denmark (11); UK (19); Germany (8); Netherlands (6); Belgium (2) Italy (7); Switzerland (2); France (1); Ireland (1); Canada (1); and Australia (1). Among these, 25 have had PhD projects based at PRIO. International partnerships have been established between the research school and departments at the University of Uppsala (SE), University of Copenhagen (DK), University of California, Berkeley (US), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy), Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and Hitsosubashi University (Japan). For further information on activities and members, please see http://www.peaceconflictresearch.org/

Målet for forskerskolen i fred og konflikt har vært å utdanne en ny generasjon fred- og konfliktforskere og danne et sterkt nettverk av doktorgradsstipendiater og veiledere innen tverrfaglig freds- og konfliktforskning i Norge og internasjonalt. Til tross for økt interesse for fagfeltet blant studenter og i samfunnet, manglet et helhetlig utdanningstilbud og et nasjonalt forskningsnettverk innen freds- og konfliktforskning. Vi opplever at forskerskolen har lykkes med å skape et sterkt og varig faglig nettverk mellom stipendiatene tilknyttet forskerskolen, og mellom stipendiater og forskere ved institusjonene som driver forskerskolen og de sterkeste og mest relevante fagmiljøene internasjonalt. Forskerskolen har skapt viktige samarbeid for fremtiden mellom enkeltforskere og institusjoner, både innen forskning og i arbeidslivet. Vår vurdering er at forskerskolen i fred og konflikt har bidratt til å styrke Norges posisjon som ledende innen internasjonal freds- og konfliktforskning.

The research school will increase the PhD candidates knowledge of the basic scholarly and social conditions for working with, and understanding, questions of peace and conflict. This will also enhance the PhD candidates ability and skills when it comes to the understanding and treatment of theoretical questions and their implications for policy. In order to achieve this, the PhD candidates would be expected to familiarize themselves with current core themes and approaches within peace research. In additio n, they would be expected to know the history of peace research and how it has developed into a field of study which is rooted in core disciplines in social science. By attracting the best PhD candidates from the basic disciplines who are interested in th e peace and conflict implications of their respective areas of study, an additional expectation is that they will draw on and interact with studies in other disciplines and thereby expand and enrich their own work. This educational format will generate co operation between institutions and further exchange between different scientific disciplines and theoretical traditions. In turn, this will strengthen the multidisciplinary treatment of subjects within the field, and ensure that analyses and descriptions are finely nuanced. A research school in peace and conflict research will in a longer perspective contribute to the development of a critical mass of researchers who will have an independent and critical voice with regard to both method and theory, and th at will promote new knowledge about central questions within the field in ways which will also influence public opinion on these themes. The research school will also further cooperation between PhD candidates and senior researchers on relevant subjects w ithin the field, a main asset in securing vibrant and innovative research milieu.