Can PeaceTech end conflict during Covid-19?

The Political Settlements Research Programme recently joined the Edinburgh University Women in STEM Society to discuss how PeaceTech tools support those brokering peace, and the challenges and opportunities the Covid-19 pandemic presents.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having disproportionate impacts on people in countries already affected by conflict, and travel restrictions both within and between countries have disrupted in-person mediation processes that have historically relied on bringing people together. Since March 2020, those working in the nascent field of PeaceTech (technological tools that support peacebuilding) have suddenly found their services more in demand than ever, as peacebuilders and their supports shift to online ways of working, often in communities where internet accessibility is not always guaranteed.

On 30 August, Professor Christine Bell, Laura Wise, and Fiona Knäussel spoke to the Edinburgh University Women in STEM Society to illustrate how PSRP has developed a suite of PeaceTech tools to support those brokering peace, and explain how these have come into their own during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. They discussed the opportunities and challenges of developing technological responses to facilitate conflict resolution, and how PeaceTech could assist women’s meaningful inclusion in peace processes.

Watch the video in full below, or on Youtube.

For more Covid-related research, reports, and analysis from PSRP, visit our Covid-19 Hub.