In February 2019, Adham Hamed from the University of Innsbruck’s Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, visited the Peace Education Research Group at the University of Cambridge in the framework of a BritInn fellowship. During his research stay, he engaged in a number of research and project meetings and also presented his dissertation research on turning points in peace processes to a public audience at the Faculty of Education. Through a number of intensive one on one consultancies with Dr. Hilary Cremin he made substantial progress within the framework of the methodology section of my dissertation. Particular emphasis was put on questions of qualitative data interpretation, through discussing different approaches to analysis.

Cooperating with the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group

Lines of further institutional cooperation between the University of Innsbruck and the University of Cambridge have also been explored. These include in particular the possibility of submitting joint grant applications within the field of peace education and conflict transformation, both to European Union Grants (Horizon 2020) and the British Research Council (GCRF). Also, substantial collegial bonds were made with the doctoral candidates at the Cambridge Peace Education Research Group (CPERG), which provides a hub for research students and faculty at the University of Cambridge to exchange ideas and collaborate on projects that explore the relationships between conflict, peace, and education, both in the UK and internationally. Through its activities, CPERG aims to stimulate connections between theory, research and practice. CPERG was initiated in 2011 as a post-graduate special interest group. Since that time the group has organized a number of activities including brainstorming sessions, a Conflict and Peace conference, speaker sessions, a new route MPhil working group, and consultancy applications to international education and development agencies. 

The Academic Network Britain-Innsbruck (BritInn)

BritInn was founded in 2017 by the University of Innsbruck as a research network to promote academic collaboration and exchange between the University of Innsbruck and universities and research institutions in Great Britain. BritInn is the second academic network of the university and the first of its kind in Austria.

 This BritInn fellowship has strengthened the existing collaboration between the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group and the University of Innsbruck’s UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies. As a further activity in this line of collaboration, Dr. Hilary Cremin and Tim Archer from the University of Cambridge are teaching at the University of Innsbruck’s MA Program in Peace, Development, Security and International Conflict Transformation in July 2019.

Special thanks go to Basma Hajir (St. John's College) and Will McInerny (Queens' College), two outstanding doctoral candidates at Cambridge, who substantially contributed to the development of Adham Hamed’s with great hospitality.