This issue includes the latest news from AC4 and the Columbia Conflict Community, including a recap of September events and upcoming peace and conflict resolution events!
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Dear friends and colleagues:
Happy Fall! We at AC4 hope you're enjoying this chilly but sunny start to autumn. Thanks for taking a moment to read about our highlights from this semester so far and to look ahead to what AC4 has in store.
It was wonderful to see many familiar and new faces at our kick-off to this year's Perspectives on Peace event that focused on Education and Empowerment in the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Thank you to all who joined and, for those who couldn't attend, check out the recording below from our inspiring evening at Milbank Chapel. To see the continuing conversation and growing community at Columbia and beyond interested in the refugee crisis, see the info below about the Columbia Global Center event and interact with us on our Facebook page.
Check out updates and news about other upcoming symposiums and to meet this year's fellows who will participate in the 2016 Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) Learning Exchange. Keep reading for all that’s new with AC4!
Snapshot from Perspectives on Peace:
Education and Empowerment in the Syrian Refugee Crisis
For this month's Conversations from the Leading Edge episode we're featuring the talk from panelists as was delivered on the evening on September 26th.
Give a listen by clicking the button below!
This year, AC4 awarded the above 4 fellows to participate in the 5th Annual Learning Exchange hosted by the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) held in Oracle, Arizona, on October 14-17, 2016. The theme of the exchange was "Embodying CMM", with the intention that practitioners, researchers, academics, change agents and learners will come together to advance collective understanding and practice of what embodying CMM means and how it is enacted in our worlds.
This cohort of CMM Fellows includes a current Columbia graduate student, a current graduate student at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Erfurt, Germany, an alumni from California State University, and a graduate student at the University of North Carolina. Learn more about the fellows!
Snapshot ofExecutive Education on Environmental Peacebuilding
Dr. Josh Fisher and Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida of AC4 co-led an Executive Education Program on Environmental Peacebuilding during the last week of September with Dr. Marc Levy and in partnership with CIESIN, colleagues at the Earth Institute. Participants in the program were mid-level career professionals who came to understand the rapidly changing connections between environment and security dynamics. Through a mix of lectures, hands-on activities and interactive workshops with professors and practitioners, attendees increased their knowledge and left more equipped with best-practice tools for managing the risks that arise from such linkages.
Learn about our Graduate Student Fellowship Program!
Looking to conduct an applied research project in the field of peace and conflict?
Application will open Winter 2016. Applications includes a 3-page proposal of your project along with proposed budget, a faculty sponsor and a recommendation letter.
To learn more about current fellows and previously selected projects, view an interactive map showing all AC4 Graduate Student Applied Research Projects, including project titles, descriptions and locations:
For more information about the Fellowship Program, contact Meredith Smith.
Save the Date: the next Perspectives on Peace Session is Nov. 4th!
Join us for a conversation with the award-winning author and journalist Sebastian Junger, joined by Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida and Dr. Peter Coleman:
Friday, November 4th | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Teachers College, Columbia University
Cowin Auditorium, Horace Mann Hall Room 147
In his new book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger explores the human drive to belong to groups defined by purpose.
This symposium, presented by Columbia Global Centers | Amman and Istanbul, explores how existing plans of aid effectiveness and development could be strengthened to improve refugee settlement outcomes in countries directly affected by the Syrian crisis. It brings together Columbia scholars from the fields of law, public health, education, public policy, and migration, with leading experts and practitioners from Turkey and the MENA region. A long-term framework for refugee inclusion that balances the concerns of the Syrian refugees and the host communities, as well as improves access to service delivery systems and development of host communities will be explored.
The symposium is organized around the following themes:
The Refugee Response: Past Experiences and Current Practices
Developing a New Paradigm of Refugee Inclusion in Host Countries
The Role of Academic Institutions in Advancing Knowledge on this Global Humanitarian Challenge
For more information and a list of confirmed speakers, please refer to the Symposium agenda.
New blog by Ljubica Chapman in the MD-ICCCR blog series "Science & Practice for Constructive Conflict Resolution and Peace"
Don't miss out on the annual Peacebuilding Fieldwork Symposium this Friday!
Come hear from graduate students at Columbia SIPA and School of Social Work, including a couple AC4 fellows, as they share key reflections, lessons learned and new insights from their fieldwork with a stunning range of peacebuilding-focused institutions around the world.
Questions or Comments?
ac4columbia@gmail.com
Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4)
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 253
New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2771 ac4.ei.columbia.edu
