Dear Friend,

International Day of Peace Update from the Initiative for Peacebuilding

The International Day of Peace is observed around the world each year on 21 September. In this newsletter, the Initiative for Peacebuilding updates on our recent news and engagement. We also recognise the support we receive to further our efforts, at a time the world is in dire need of greater peace and justice. 

New appointments!

A major development has been the recent process of new appointments to the Initiative for Peacebuilding, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne.

Dr Mujib Abid recently commenced as Postdoctoral Research Fellow; Dr Niamatullah Ibrahimi is our newly appointed Senior Research Fellow, (commencing November 2024); and Associate Professor (Peacebuilding) Jasmine Westendorf will be commencing in February 2025.

See below for more updates on staffing. 

News and Events

Bougainville Senior Leadership Professional Development Program (BSLPDP) 2023–2024

Dr Tania Miletic, Project lead and Laura Raicu, Project Officer, recently returned from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville after delivering Module 5 of the BSLPDP, an Australian government programme implemented by the University of Melbourne's Initiative for Peacebuilding with financial support from the New Zealand Government. BSLPDP provides opportunities for senior policy makers and legislative leaders from the Autonomous Bougainville Government to engage in an international sharing experience with experts, policy-makers, researchers and government officials with relevant experience from governments and institutions overseas. The program content is centred around the module themes of ethical leadership, policy making, governance, government and public relations, public financial planning and management and economic development.

We look forward to welcoming the participants for the final module, which is being delivered at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne in November 2024. 

Please see below to read about our recent and upcoming activities, and visit our website to learn more. 

South Sudan Diaspora Peace Leadership Program

The Initiative for Peacebuilding hosted the South Sudan Diaspora Peace Leadership Program between 12–14 September 2024, a three-day peace leadership program tailored to the critical role that Australian South Sudanese community leaders have in supporting longer-term peace, both within their communities in Australia and for political development and social healing in South Sudan.

The program was funded by the Rotary Club of Melbourne and involved up to 40 Australian South Sudanese community leaders who are currently engaged in a range of peacebuilding projects at individual and associational levels across Australia and South Sudan.

Preparations for the UN Summit of the Future

The United Nations Summit of the Future is taking place next week, and the the Initiative for Peacebuilding has published a series of briefing papers to stimulate discussion of key issues on the agenda for the Summit with interested Australians and community organisations. 

The papers were presented and discussed at the Summit of the Future Roundtable in Canberra on 6 August, an event held in collaboration with the UN Association of Australia and the Australian Institute of International Affairs (ACT branch). Please see below for recordings of the event, and to read the Communique produced out of the proceedings.

In Pursuit of Knowledge

In 2024 the University of Melbourne is running In Pursuit of Knowledge, a discussion series which brings together experts in their fields to examine and illuminate the critical issues of our time. Dr Tania Miletic, Dr Carrie McDougall and Professor Alison Duxbury took part the first episode of the series, which centred on the threat to our global public institutions and was hosted by Jon Faine. 

The second episode in the series features Prof Joe Lo Bianco discussing strengthening multiculturalism in a time of conflict with Ghassan Hage and Karen Farquhason. More information and event recordings can be found below. 

Staffing

In August the Initiative was delighted to welcome Dr Mujib Abid to the team as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Mujib is an Afghan-Australian scholar of modern Afghan history, peace studies and political theory. Mujib’s work foregrounds critical traditions that self-locate in the Global South, including postcolonial and decolonial approaches, as well as other traditional and Islamic knowledge perspectives.

We are also thrilled to welcome Ika Trijsburg as a Research Affiliate from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. We invite you to familiarise yourself with the diverse and rich range of Research Affiliates who are developing research collaborations with the Initiative. Please visit our website to see more.

On a personal note, we extend our gratitude for the well wishes that have been extended to John Langmore. We are pleased to share that John is recovering and is now back home where he can recuperate over the coming weeks.

Supporting the Initiative

We welcome new subscribers to this newsletter and fostering connections amongst our networks.

We are extremely appreciative of the financial support received by the Initiative to date. 

If you are interested in making a gift, please click below.