CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: Cross-Regional Peace Education: Peace as a Plural Phenomenon in Theory and Practice

29.6.2026

The EU-funded project Curriculum Reform to Promote Education for Peace in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova (PeaceEdu) invites applications to its cross-regional online course Cross-Regional Peace Education: Peace as a Plural Phenomenon in Theory and Practice. This course offers unique insights into peace education as a cross-regional and multidisciplinary tool to enhance capacities for dialogue and exchange on peaceful conflict transformation through higher education. The course will take place online from 30 September – 02 December 2026. Lessons will be taught by PeaceEdu project partner universities and NGOs in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia as well as partner institutions in Innsbruck (Austria), Hildesheim (Germany) and Tampere (Finland).

Course Description and Rationale:

This course offers unique insights into peace education as a cross-regional and multidisciplinary tool to enhance capacities for dialogue and exchange on peaceful conflict transformation through higher education. Based on a cross-regional network for learning and collaboration among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia as well as partner institutions in Innsbruck (Austria), Hildesheim (Germany) and Tampere (Finland), the course offers conceptual, theoretical and practice-based modules to establish capacities in peace education and non-violence, including methods of negotiation, dialogue, diplomacy and democracy, exchange of best practices and pedagogies of hope. Peace is not treated as a single universal condition but as a multidimensional and context-sensitive phenomenon, experienced across five interrelated scales: Psychological, Interpersonal, Community and societal, International, Ecological.

By reflecting on peace education as a plural, (cross-)regional, and practice-oriented field, the course equips learners with analytical, pedagogical, and applied competencies for peaceful conflict transformation. It integrates theory, practice, and embodiment, combining conceptual frameworks with mediation, negotiation, dialogue, and critical pedagogies of hope. Through training in peace education, it facilitates not only content but also applied embodied learning that enables future educators and teachers to support human resource development and continuous professional growth based on constructive communication, pluralist understandings of peace and conflict transformation and community resilience with a focus on engaging youth.

Learning Outcomes:

After completing all modules, participants will be able to:

1. Analyse peace as a plural and multidimensional phenomenon, recognising its cognitive, emotional, embodied, relational, social, and ecological dimensions, and applying these perspectives to diverse regional and cultural contexts.
2. Apply the five scales of peace (psychological, interpersonal, community and societal, international, and ecological) as analytical and pedagogical tools to examine how peace is experienced, challenged, and cultivated in different settings.
3. Integrate theory and practice in peace education, drawing on case studies, pedagogical innovations, and community-based knowledge developed through NGOs, student initiatives, and local peace education pilots.
4. Demonstrate critical political literacy by engaging with key themes such as nationalism, democracy, collective memory, resistance, post-colonial and decolonial perspectives, and contemporary peace and security discourses.
5. Design or adapt context-sensitive peace education activities, informed by national curricula, local needs, and existing educational ecosystems, including formal, non-formal, and informal learning spaces.
6. Engage in dialogical and reflexive learning across difference, de-centering dominant forms of expertise and fostering mutual learning among participants from diverse regional, disciplinary, and experiential backgrounds.
7. Collaborate transnationally to co-create peace education knowledge, synthesising existing resources and experiences into coherent cross-regional learning approaches rather than treating peace education as a context-free or abstract practice.

Methodology:

The course consists of five flexible modules that are used to coherently provide a full course on Peace Education. Across all modules, the course draws on interactive lectures and conceptual inputs; guided reading and group discussions; experiential and embodied learning; exploration of case studies from partner regions; simulations; skills training; reflective writing; peer feedback, and; digital and hybrid learning formats. Pedagogically, the course follows dialogical, participatory, and emancipatory approaches, emphasising reflexivity, positionality, and ethical engagement.

Assignments:

The following assessment formats are used throughout the course:

• Attendance and active participation in the sessions (minimum attendance to 80% of the sessions is required for those who wish to receive a course completion certificate)
• Final integrative paper or portfolio connecting multiple modules (2-3 page document or a creative output)

Acceptance requirements

• be an advanced bachelor’s degree student or master’s student in Austria, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Moldova, and Ukraine.
• Note: priority will be given to students affiliated with the following institutions:
  • Tampere University (TAU),
  • Ilia State University (ILIAUNI),
  • University of Hildesheim (UHI),
  • Sokhumi State University (SSU),
  • Center for Peace and Civic Development (CPCD),
  • Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (TSNUK),
  • N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (KKNU),
  • Public Diplomacy Platform (PDP),
  • Moldova State University (MSU),
  • Ion Creanga State Pedagogical University Chisinau (UPSC),
  • Agency for Innovation and Development, Peace Education Institute (RKI),
  • University of Innsbruck (UIBK)
• be able to study and communicate in English,
• demonstrate strong motivation to engage in novel methods and theories in peace education,
• demonstrate keen interest in applying the methods and theories in their future professional engagements.

How to apply

If you are interested in participating in PeaceEdu’s Cross-Regional Peace Education: Peace as a Plural Phenomenon in Theory and Practice, please apply by sending the attached application form with your answers to anush.petrosyan@tuni.fi.

The subject line of the application email should contain the following information: Name, last name: PeaceEdu Cross Regional Course. The submitted document must be in PDF format.

The following information should be provided through the application form:

• Your current educational stage,
• Institutional Affiliation,
• Motivation for participation in the cross-regional course,
• How the intended learning outcomes will help in your career,
• General expectations from the cross-regional course.

The application deadline is 15 August 2026. Results of the selection process will be announced by the beginning of September.

Cross-Regional Peace Education Application Form

Cross-Regional Peace Education Call for Participants

Cross-Regional Peace Education Course Design

You can submit inquiries for further information to anush.petrosyan@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer: The personal data collected for the purpose of evaluating the applications will be strictly available to the team of the course organizers within PeaceEdu Consortium. The processing of personal data will take place in compliance with data protection laws and the guidelines issued by the University and within the GDPR, national data protection legislation and other relevant regulations that govern the processing of personal data.

For more information about data processing please check out the Privacy Notice by Tampere University.

Link to Original Call