War & Peace Series: Oxford 2026
Merton College, University of Oxford & Belfast, Northern Ireland
War & Peace Series—Critical Deliberations on Peacebuilding, Memory, and Narrative Ethics
Spring Session:
29 March - 5 April 2026 | Oxford & Belfast
Fall Session:
13 - 20 September 2026 | Oxford & Belfast
Join a dynamic community of leading scholars, influential practitioners, and innovative policymakers for a transformative program that explores the personal and collective power of lived experiences and highlights collaborative strategies for meaningful change. Special workshop sessions will focus on writing ethically about conflict and trauma, and the evolving field of conflict journalism. We welcome accomplished practitioners, researchers, journalists, and students—graduate and advanced undergraduates alike—who bring relevant experience and a commitment to ethical, creative engagement.
Each session begins with four days at Merton College, University of Oxford, followed by an optional three-day narrative fieldwork program in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The study of war and peace at the University of Oxford dates back to the 1500s, with notable contributions to just war theory and the ethics of conflict. Building on this legacy, our workshop-symposium explores contemporary challenges in war and peacemaking, with a particular emphasis on trauma-sensitive interviewing. We foreground the roles and agency of women in both war and peace—how they participate in conflicts, how they tell their stories, and how inter-generational trauma shapes the persistence of intractable struggles.
This program is especially valuable for those preparing to conduct trauma-informed fieldwork with vulnerable populations in conflict-prone areas. Participants receive the Oxford Initiative’s Duty of Care Training Certificate in trauma-sensitive interviewing techniques, developed in partnership with Resonate Joy trauma specialists. Duty of Care training is required for further collaboration with the Global Women’s Narratives Project.
The days in Northern Ireland are hosted by poet and playwright Damian Gorman and Advisory Board member and community leader Anne Carr. One of the central challenges at the heart of the peace process is recognizing that it demands more than agreements, institutional reform, security measures, and economic development—it requires a transformation in attitudes between communities to reflect genuinely new relationships. This fieldwork centers on culture, change, and reconciliation. We will engage with community members to explore how cultural leadership, political evolution, and social renewal contribute to the process of communal reconciliation.
SPRING SYMPOSIUM
29 March - 2 April 2026| University of Oxford
3 - 5 April 2026 | Belfast, Northern Ireland meetings and narrative fieldwork (optional)
The Spring Symposium will convene at the University of Oxford from Sunday, 29 March – Thursday, 2 April 2026. Daily sessions run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, with one special evening gathering and an afternoon reserved for exploring Oxford . Participants arrive and check in on Sunday afternoon, and depart Thursday afternoon from Oxford. Delegates continuing with the Global Women’s Narratives Project team to Belfast, will begin meetings on Friday morning, 3 April, through Sunday, 7 April 2026. Additional details about the Belfast fieldwork and estimated costs will be shared early in the new year.
FALL SYMPOSIUM
13 - 17 Sept 2026 | University of Oxford
18 - 20 Sept 2026 | Belfast, Northern Ireland meetings and narrative fieldwork (optional)
The Fall Symposium will convene at the University of Oxford from Sunday, 13 September – Thursday, 17 September 2026. Daily sessions run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, with one special evening gathering and an afternoon reserved for exploring Oxford . Participants arrive and check in on Sunday afternoon, and depart Thursday afternoon from Oxford. Delegates continuing with the Global Women’s Narratives Project team to Belfast, will begin meetings in Belfast on Friday morning, 18 September through Sunday, 20 September 2026. Additional details about the Belfast fieldwork and estimated costs will be shared in late Spring.
Our Oxford program is uniquely curated each session, shaped by the themes and participants of that year. To offer a sense of its scope, structure, and depth, we’ve included links below to several of our previous workshops and symposia.
Resonate Joy Nonprofit, an arm of the Optimum Joy private practice in Chicago, IL, USA, partners with the Global Women’s Narratives Project to provide trauma-informed training and therapeutic support. Trauma specialists lead several sessions in our Oxford training and travel with interviewing teams.