Roundtable: Visions of Peace - in the midst of war and violence

The last decade has seen an alarming increase in armed conflicts and wars alongside the retreat of international organisations set up to respond to these situations. We see this in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and many other places that rarely reach the headlines. Wars have become more frequent and more ruthless, and geopolitical volatility has rendered traditional, tried-and-tested approaches to conflict resolution unavailable or ineffective. In this context, there is a need to explore new and innovative approaches to peace. Although challenging, it is important to envision what kinds of peace are possible and discuss what different actors can do in response to protracted violent conflicts - even if this may look very different to past interventions. 

This roundtable, hosted by the University’s newly established Peace Lab, brings together academics, practitioners and journalists to discuss peace in three “impossible cases” (the Arab-Israeli conflict, Myanmar, and Sudan). Questions include: What are the prospects for peace? What could/should peace look like? How possible is it to talk about peace right now, and who is open to it? What actors need to be involved, and how can they be engaged? 

Please join us for an important and thought-provoking evening. We’ll start at 6pm with a reception in the foyer of the Berrick Saul building. The roundtable starts at 6.30pm

Speakers: 

Aditi Gupta is a policy analyst and strategist with experience in advocacy, research and consensus-building across military, government, humanitarian, and civil society communities. She is Director of Policy at Protection Approaches where she oversees the organisation’s policy programming. Through her roles as Deputy Director of the UK chapter of Women of Colour Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS-UK) and now as co-Founder of the Minorities in Peace and Security (MPS) network, Aditi convenes networks aimed at fighting intersectional inequalities endemic in the professional fields of peace, security and prevention. Aditi previously Directed the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones and Modern Conflict where she led the Group's strategy and activities in Parliament, working with experts, MPs and Peers to improve the accountability, transparency and oversight of the UK's use of force and military partnerships. She is also an Executive Board Member at Airwars.

Mohanad Hashim is an award-winning journalist with the BBC World Service radio programme, Newshour. Mo has been a journalist for nearly 20 years, and has covered the MENA region extensively. He joined the BBC in 2008 as a Middle East and Arabic media analyst. He reported on the Arab spring and the fallout that followed. He went on to join Focus on Africa programme on the World Service radio in 2015. During the civilian-led transition that followed the Sudanese uprising of 2019, Mo left the BBC to work as an executive in the state-owned Radio and TV corporation in Sudan.  Following the coup of October 2021, Mohanad resigned from his post and has since worked for the BBC.

Dr Jacob Eriksson is a Lecturer in Post-war Recovery Studies in the Department of Politics at the University of York. He holds BA and MA degrees from the War Studies Department at King's College London, and a PhD from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS). Jacob’s research focuses on conflict, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding in the Middle East. His first book, Small-state Mediation in International Conflicts: Diplomacy and Negotiation in Israel-Palestine was published by IB Tauris in 2015. He is the editor, together with Dr Ahmed Khaleel, of Iraq after ISIS: The challenges of post-war recovery, published by Palgrave in 2019. He is currently finishing a book on peacebuilding in Iraq, forthcoming with Manchester University Press in 2025.

Dr Claire Smith is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of York, where she serves as Deputy Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Claire has international recognition as a regional expert on conflict and peacebuilding in the Asia-Pacific, with a special focus on Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and Myanmar. Her research has appeared in leading journals such as Conflict, Security and Development, Third World Quarterly and Peacebuilding, with funding from the ESRC/GCRF, The Asia Foundation, and The World Peace Foundation. Throughout her career, Dr Smith has worked closely with international organisations in Southeast Asia, including UNHCHR, Human Rights Watch, and the Asia Foundation. Prior to her PhD, she spent two years as a researcher at the World Bank Country Office in Indonesia with their Social Development programme, and two years in Lao PDR as a researcher and editor with UNICEF and UNDP. Claire completed her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she focused on post-conflict politics in Eastern Indonesia. She holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University, and a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford. 

Chair: Prof Nina Caspersen, Department of Politics & International Relations, University of York