Spotlight on IICRR

Center Spotlight Series Insight

Research Spotlight is a series where we shine a spotlight on the research being undertaken in DCU research centres. This month we are looking at IICRR. You can find an archive of the previously featured research centres here.    

Launched by Hilary Clinton in 2012, DCU’s Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction (IICRR) draws on Ireland’s own historical experience of peace and conflict to produce internationally accessible, academically rigorous research on global conflict. It aims to establish definitive accounts of the implementation of the Northern Ireland peace process, to draw on the Irish experience to assist in the analysis of other conflict zones, and to use international best practice to assist the remaining legacies of conflict in Ireland.  The geographical scope of the Institute’s work is global but focuses in particular on Northern Ireland, the post-Soviet space, the Western Balkans, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. The Institute supports cutting edge taught programmes at BA, MA and PhD levels in the School of Law and Government and works with key civil society partners and governments so that our evidence-based knowledge is both relevant and accessible to those involved in practice.

IICRR is currently leading four major EU funded projects and a range of medium scale projects supported by the Irish Research Council, private donors and civil society organisations:

  • The largest Network of Excellence on Violent On-Line Political Extremism (VOX-Pol), looking at issues of on-line radicalisation (EU Framework Programme Seven, €6m)
  • An EU Marie Curie European Training Network PhD programme worth €3.8m on the post-Soviet space Post-Soviet Tensions
  • An EU Marie Curie European Training Network PhD programme worth €3.8m on the Caspian region.
  • An Erasmus + project, funded under Key Action II Capacity Building in Higher Education worth €1m, PESTUGE is to establish Masters level programmes on peace and conflict studies in the Republic of Georgia.

IICRR publication outputs include books and journal articles covering a wide range of subjects, including the reintegration of former combatants in West Africa, conflict resolution strategies in India, state-building in Kososvo, identity and nation building in post-socialist states and the Peace Commissions in Northern Ireland. In keeping with DCU’s policy of broader engagement, the IICRR also looks outside of academia to better understand conflict. It has organised conferences on the Syrian conflict and migration crisis and the role of Turkey in conflict in the Middle East,  bringing together, not only leading academics, but also civil society actors and practitioners to deliberate on these major conflict issues. In addition, it has participated in mediation between academics from secessionist states in the former Soviet space. The IICRR aims to produce policy-relevant research and has contributed to a workshop run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on contemporary security challenges.

For more information on IICRR see our website iicrr.ie