In August 2024, PeaceRep Post-doctoral Research Fellow Juline Beaujouan led a workshop on inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral knowledge exchange at the University of Salahaddin in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
With the workshop already fostering future collaboration, members of the two institutions are now planning to develop multi-disciplinary projects aimed at better understanding and contributing to sustainable peace in KRI and the rest of Iraq.
Building Bridges for Collaborative Research: PeaceRep Leads Workshop in Kurdistan Region...
On 11-12 August 2024, PeaceRep Post-doctoral Research Fellow Juline Beaujouan led a workshop at the University of Salahaddin in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Hosted by the Social Work Department, the workshop gathered 18 colleagues with expertise in social work, sociology, peace and conflict, and media studies around the themes of Knowledge Exchange and Collaborative Research. The workshop received the support of Professor Assistant Dr Musa Mohammed Khadir, Dean of the College of Arts.
This participatory workshop aimed to facilitate inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral knowledge exchange between PeaceRep (UK) and the University of Salahaddin-Erbil (KRI), and to foster collaborative partnerships for future research projects. It also addressed the need to codify and systematise collaborative methodology to maximise research impact, while accounting for contextual differences and the essential engagement with local communities.
Over the course of two days, participants thought creatively about ways to create better forms of knowledge about KRI and Iraq, while reflecting on some key challenges when conducting research in difficult fields. They also started to develop fair, inclusive, and context-specific ethics procedures to guide fieldwork undertaken by staff and students at Salahaddin University’s Social Work Department.
Future Collaborations Planned
The workshop has already yielded concrete results. In early September 2024, the Social Work Department appointed its first-ever ethics committee, an important first step at the University of Salahaddin-Erbil. Juline Beaujouan will sit on the committee as an external member and work collaboratively with other members to the development of ethics procedures until the end of the year.
Moreover, Juline Beaujouan and Dr Hakim Qadir Taha, Head of the Social Work Department, are currently working on a Memorandum of Understanding between PeaceRep and the Social Work Department to formalise the collaboration. In the forthcoming months, members of the two institutions will develop multi-disciplinary projects aimed at better understanding and contributing to sustainable peace in KRI and the rest of Iraq.