I am a political scientist and international development scholar who has been raised and educated both in the Global North and the Global South. My mixed heritage and migration journeys have contributed to a deep desire to understand myself and the complex and diverse societies that we live in. The study of peace and conflict enables me to gain insight into how we can address structural disparities through critical education and practice.

InnPeace provide a research space where scholars and practitioners from different disciplinary backgrounds can come together to explore mutual interests related to how we can address conflicts in our society by exploring different forms of inner and outer peace. The research centre offers a space for joint events, publications and discussions on pertinent topics today.

As a philosopher I have strong inclination towards Peace and Conflict Studies because, simply put, I think that it is indeed paramount to understand, but also to confront the history of human violence and to explore venues for alternative modes of co-existence on this planet. This is also why I think that Peace and Conflict Studies is not just a pressing area of studies, but also one that immediately relates to a range of philosophical topics.

I am part of InnPeace because I do believe that trans- and interdisciplinary research centers such as ours are urgently needed to develop Peace and Conflict Studies further. In particular, I think that InnPeace is the ideal networking infrastructure for jointly engaging in research projects, for inviting international scholars and for promoting also what is so special about Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Innsbruck.

My field of study is existential psychology, with a special focus on life meaning. What people see as meaningful is highly subjective. For some, engagement for peace, tolerance, and equality are obviously meaningful. Others see radical action – and even violence – as the only viable way towards what they find meaningful. When trying to gain insight into people’s life worlds, it is crucially important to understand what they value as meaningful, and if they fear that this might be desecrated by others.

The team of InnPeace advocates for a balanced and empirically grounded concept of peace. It takes into account individual and group goals, attitudes and values, but also acknowledges transrational factors that influence personal and organisational mood and action. Accordingly, the concept is non-normative, but open to subjective understandings of peace and to their cultural embeddedness. It is here that research on meaning and peace can cross-fertilise: to support a worldview that gives credit to the plurality of viewpoints, the necessity to understand what people actually mean by their actions and words, and to thus strengthen the visibility of our common humanity.