PeaceRep

Somalia, Mapping the Fragments: Justice & Security in Kismayo and Galkayo
2025-06-19 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/Berlin)
Zoom Webinar hosted by the LSE Conflict and Civicness Research Group
Register to attend online
When: 19 March 2025, 14:00 – 15:00 (BST)
Where: Zoom
The general failure of national peace processes has contributed to the emergence of new spaces and dynamics of both peace and conflict, particularly at sub-national levels. In this light, Christine Bell and Laura Wise ask us to reimagine peace processes by mapping and understanding the fragmented peace-conflict spaces that they have identified through PeaceRep’s PA-X Local Peace Agreement database.
This webinar, based on research by the PeaceRep Somalia team, seeks to illustrate how a granular understanding of Somalia’s fragmented governance landscape – Kismayo and Galkayo – can enhance policy and programmatic engagement, by shifting the focus from dominant elite-level narratives to local realities. This is particularly important in securitized, “bunkerized” environments such as Somalia.
This event is part of a three part webinar series drawing on research from Galkayo and Kismayo in Somalia and Tumaco and Chocó in Colombia’s Pacific region across the CCRG. It explores how peace and security processes unfold in fragmented, multilayered, and transcalar environments, where cycles of violence are shaped by limited or uneven state presence, chronic underdevelopment, and contested forms of authority. The series examines how these processes operate within broader political economies and connect across local, national, and international levels, highlighting the potential of transcalar peace and security processes to support more inclusive and sustainable outcomes. More information and information on future webinars can be found here. For more information and to register for upcoming webinars, please visit Conflict and Civicness Research Group Events.
Speakers & Chair

Khalif Abdirahman, Senior Field Researcher at the LSE’s Conflict and Civicness Research Group
Nisar Majid, Research Director of Peacerep Somalia at the LSE’s Conflict and Civicness Research Group
Abdifatah Ismael Tahir, researcher at Hilin, a non-profit research organisation
Marika Theros (Chair), Policy Fellow at the Conflict and Civicness Research Group at LSE IDEAS and the Director of the Civic Engagement Project

Learn more about the speakers here
Registration
This event if free and open to all. However, pre-registration is required. Register here.

Dr Houda Abadi: Reimagining Women, Peace and Security for Today's Geopolitics
2025-10-21 17:30 - 19:30 UTC | Playfair Library Hall, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL, United Kingdom
Distinguished peacebuilder Dr Houda Abadi will reflect on lessons learned from 25 years of the UN Women, Peace and Security agenda.
Register on Eventbrite
Join Edinburgh Law School and Beyond Borders Scotland for a public event marking the 25th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) was passed in October 2000, reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of armed conflicts. Now, 25 years later, the WPS agenda is more relevant than ever as women peacebuilders face continued challenges amidst shifting global conflicts and escalating violence.
To mark the anniversary, distinguished peacebuilder Dr Houda Abadi, Founder and Director of Transformative Peace, will reflect on “Reimagining WPS for Today’s Geopolitics: Lessons from 25 Years”. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A and networking reception.
Dr Abadi has more than 18 years of experience designing and implementing peacebuilding programs in the US, Europe and the MENA region. Dr Abadi works with a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate dialogue and promote peacebuilding in sensitive conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and Sudan. She develops programs to foster women’s inclusion in peacebuilding processes; provides expertise in designing community based and gender sensitive PVE programs that are locally owned and led; facilitates collaboration between policymakers and grassroots leaders across political and religious divides; conducts evidence based research to help shape policy decisions at the national and international levels, and lastly empowers community leaders to be positive agents of change. Read more at Transformative Peace.
The event will also celebrate the Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship Programme, which has trained more than 360 women peacebuilders from 40 conflict-affected countries across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Latin America since 2017. Run by Beyond Borders Scotland in partnership with Edinburgh Law School and funded by the Scottish Government, the Fellowship supports women peacebuilders and the critical work they do to end and transform violent and non violent conflict.
This is a free public event with limited spaces. Registration is essential. Register on Eventbrite

Provisional programme
17:30: Welcome Remarks
17:40: Introduction of speaker and Women in Conflict Fellowship: Kaukab Stewart MSP, Minister for Equalities
17:45: Keynote lecture: Dr. Houda Abadi, Founder and Director of Transformative Peace
18:15: Q&A
18:35: Networking reception

The Crisis of Legitimacy in Peace Work and the Return of ‘Peace as Force'
2026-02-24 10:30 - 12:00 UTC | G42 (Paterson’s Land)
Photo by JOSPIN MWISHA/AFP via Getty Images
Join PeaceRep, the Centre for Security Research, and the Global Justice Academy for a public talk with Gearoid Millar examining the diminishing legitimacy and future of peace work
Register on Eventbrite
When: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, Tuesday 24 February 2026
Where: G42, Paterson’s Land, University of Edinburgh
In this talk, Gearoid Millar examines the diminishing legitimacy of peace work as it has come to be framed in the post-Cold War era. The talk presents data from interviews with 99 peace work professionals examining what they each thought were the biggest challenges to peace that we had faced in the recent past and that we would face in the foreseeable future. Conducted over two phases that straddle a pivotal inflection point for the field (one in 2018–19 and another in 2024–25), Gearoid’s research presents many voices from those who have worked either to understand (academics) or to implement (practitioners) peace work.
As these voices illustrate, one of the most common challenges these groups identified was the decreasing legitimacy of peace work; specifically, the decreasing legitimacy of the model of peace that has previously been pursued (the liberal peace) and of the actors who have most clearly pursued it (the Western states and the UN). The most worrying implication of these findings, however, is that the very concept of peace itself as a “just peace” allowing progressively more protection and emancipation for individuals and sub-state communities is also becoming delegitimated, to be replaced again by “peace as force”.
Gearoid Millar is a Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen, in the UK, where he also Coordinators both the MSc in Peace and Conflict Studies and the MSc in Policy Evaluation. His fieldwork research in West Africa has focused on examining the local experiences of international interventions for peace, justice, and development – primarily in Sierra Leone – and he has published widely about the complex and unpredictable interactions (characterised by Hybridity and Friction) between international peacebuilding interventions and the local communities and individuals who experience those interventions. He has contributed widely to the field of Peace and Conflict studies over the past 15 years, with four books and more than two dozen contributions to key journals, such as the Journal of Peace Research, Cooperation and Conflict, International Peacekeeping, the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Third World Quarterly, Peacebuilding, and many others.
This is a free public event with limited spaces. Please register via Eventbrite

Time to Make a Change: Reimagining Peace Processes in a Fragmented World
2026-03-12 08:30 - 17:00 UTC | Playfair Library Hall, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL, United Kingdom
Illustration by Marie Bertrand via Getty Images
Join us for a full-day conference marking the culmination of the PeaceRep programme
As the PeaceRep programme draws to a close, join us in Edinburgh to mark the culmination of five years of data-driven research into the changing nature of peace processes. This full-day conference will showcase insights from PeaceRep’s data-driven research, featuring key findings on fragmentation, multimediation, PeaceTech, peace analytics, and country contexts, together with implications for policy and practice.
The full programme includes a keynote speech by Mary Kaldor (LSE), together with other high-level speakers to be confirmed. The event will feature PeaceRep researchers, PeaceTech developers, mediators, and policy-makers, offering a space for inter-disciplinary discussions on contemporary peace and transition processes, and what needs to change to advance conflict resolution. The afternoon will include a breakout session with a country focus; please choose your top two choices below to allow us to allocate rooms accordingly.
Spaces are free but limited. Register below to secure your place.
Register now
When: 8:30 am – 17:00 pm, Thursday 12 March 2026
Where: Playfair Library, Old College, University of Edinburgh
Registration deadline: Thursday 26 February 2026
This is a free public event with limited spaces. Registration is essential.
The conference will be followed by an evening reception from 17:00 – 19:30.
A provisional programme is now available. Please note that details are subject to change.
