National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago

Story

The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS) is New Zealand’s first Centre to combine global cross-disciplinary expertise on the issues of development, peace-building and conflict transformation.

We:

* offer postgraduate programs at Masters and PhD level
* conduct high-level research on the causes of violent conflict and conditions for sustainable peace
* provide training, evaluation expertise, and expert advice to government and non-governmental organisations engaged in peace-building and humanitarian intervention.

The NCPACS is a theory, research and practice centre located within the Division of Humanities, University of Otago.

Mission

To reach the following aims, NCPACS has a multidisciplinary faculty, research affiliates, visiting scholars and partner organisations from around the globe. Led by Professor Kevin Clements this Faculty has a world class reputation in the field.

* To build understandings of peace and conflict grounded in the experiences of people, places and history, and in ways that respect customary and local requirements for sovereignty, development, legitimate governance and wellbeing.
* To learn from dialogue, theoretical insight, international research and practical experience, including Aotearoa/New Zealand’s own experiences of Treaty partnership and engagement in international peacebuilding.
* To deliver high-quality postgraduate programmes at Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and PhD levels.
* To conduct research on the causes of intrastate and international armed conflict; security, conflict resolution and post-conflict peacebuilding with special reference to the Asia-Pacific region.
* To provide expert advice and advanced-level short courses and training for government and non-government organisations engaged in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, development, humanitarian intervention, and policy making around the role of justice and good governance in sustainable peace.
* To engage in practical projects that build local capacities for sustainable development, community engagement, governance and conflict transformation in the Asia-Pacific region, and in Aotearoa/New Zealand’s own contexts.
* To facilitate evaluations and impact assessments of practical projects in the field.
* To advance the understanding and knowledge of conflict resolution processes by conducting state-of-the-art training in negotiation, mediation, and cross-cultural conflict resolution.