Conference Program
What’s going on at Build Peace 2025? Find out about the core themes that will guide this year’s conference, taking place on November 21- 23, 2025 in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, next to Barcelona.
Build Peace 2025: Towards a Pluriverse of Peace
Each year Build Peace focuses on one central theme and three sub-themes, linked to the location where the conference takes place. This year we want to re-think what we talk about when we talk about peace: how do we reclaim and give meaning to peace in a time marked by oppression, division and othering, inequality and loss of trust? How do we leverage new possibilities to deeply connect, learn from one another’s grounded experiences, and cultivate interdependence?
We invite you into a space where we can creatively reclaim and refine what we mean by (a culture of) peace. To do this, the conference will focus on three sub-themes. Each sub-theme represents key dilemmas in the peace and conflict field. We invite you to question and problematize these dichotomies and to explore the entry points to building and redefining peace:
Between Polarization and Deliberation. This subtheme will focus on the power of dialogue and narratives. What participatory and deliberative tools, methods and spaces can tackle rising affective and toxic polarization? How can polarized digital spaces become deliberative? We aim to explore where and how that shift happens, the role of alternative narratives and what approaches (technological or otherwise) can be used to include all voices in social and peace processes and movements.
Between Deterrence and Nonviolence. This subtheme dives into peace and security policies. How can we reshape and reclaim the use of technology in surveillance states, regions and borders in the name of “safety”? What are existing and future alternatives to militarized security? We aim to reflect on the ways in which we understand peace and security, from pacifism and nonviolence to deterrence and perceived need for militarized security.
Between Erasure and Memory. This subtheme invites us to think about how we collectively learn from the past, live in the present and imagine the future. How do we heal from trauma that poses a challenge to coexistence? In what ways can/ do we collectively learn and heal from societal crisis? What role do reconciliation processes, truth commissions and amnesties play in bringing lasting and sustainable peace? We aim to highlight the importance of creatively exploring innovative tools and ways to archive and preserve memory, and intergenerational dialogue to cultivate peaceful present and future societies.