Build Peace 2018 took place in Belfast (Northern Ireland), at Ulster University. The conference hosted over 200 peacebuilders from more than 30 different countries who came together to discuss how technological innovation and creativity re-shape the economic opportunities, economic organisation, and economic power that impact how we live together in peace – in the Global North and the Global South alike.
In many contexts, building peace requires addressing the role of economics in conflict. To build peace, we must also re-imagine the economic organisation and economic powers that affect how we live together. Creative and digital economies can provide alternative economic models that tackle inequality, reduce social exclusion, and make communities more resilient to conflict. At the same time, creative and digital economies can create or deepen conflict, altering or reinforcing the balance of power in ways that damage efforts towards reconciliation and social cohesion.
We organised our collective inquiry across three sub-themes: creativity & reconciliation, inclusion & social cohesion, sustainability & resilience.
All conference presentations can be watched on our YouTube channel. A full conference report, is forthcoming. The conference mixtape can be accessed here.
Conversations
Workshops

Opportunities to innovate in the post-conflict space
Organizer: LSE Ideas
Why are tragedies less common in the commons? Forging social contracts through resource mapping
Organizer: International Alert Philippines
Mobile Money for the Displaced
Organizer: Creative Associates International
Fact-checking in a Divided Society
Organizer: FactCheckNI
Scribbling Peace, Experimental Drawing workshop
Organizer: ThinkBucket
Green & Blue
Organizer: Kabosh Theatre
The role of cultural economies in resilience and peace-building: Festivals as vehicles for transformative community resilience and reconciliation
Organizer: UCT – The Hive / Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Food and Peace
Organizer: CRAICNI, Cultivate Respect Appreciate Inclusion across Communities, Northern Ireland
#ArtsDialogue @ Little Soacha: Making Peace Infectious
Organizer: Beyond Skin
Technology & Conflict: Assessing & Mitigating Risks of Doing Business in Conflict Sensitive Markets
Organizer: JustPeace Labs & Build Up
Fearless Futures: It Takes a Village to Build Peace
Organizer: Fearless Collective
Hidden Barriers – Walks through two inner city Neighbourhoods
Organizer: David Coyles, Donovan Wylie and Brandon Hamber, Ulster University
Empathy and Employability: Building transversal skills through Virtual Exchange
Organizer: Sharing Perspectives Foundation
#GOTGRACE? Using E-Media technology to promote whole school community approaches and intergenerational peacebuilding
Organizer: Community Relations in Schools (CRIS)
Building local democracy in conflict-affected societies: Participatory Budgeting in Northern Ireland and Colombia
Organizer: Participatory Budgeting Works (Northern Ireland), Building Change Trust (Northern Ireland) and Policéntrico (Colombia)
Innovation, Economics and a Positive Peace
Organizer: The William J. Clinton Leadership Institute at Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace
Strengthening Peace Spaces in Colombia with the Use of New Forms of Organization and Technologies
Organizer: One Earth Future / PASO Colombia
Back
More
Short Talks
Social media, political agency and peace: evidence from Global Peace Perceptions poll
Christine Wilson, Portfolio Lead Research, British Council
Six world regions where Creativity or Digital Projects are being used to secure Peace and Prosperity
Dawn Grant, Founder and CEO, BlackEconomics.co.uk
SAFEWATER: Transdisciplinary Approaches to a Global Challenge
Michael Brennan, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management, Ulster Business School, Ulster University
Helping the private sector build peace: the role of technology
Julia Pardo, Head of Accounts, AKTEK
Manifestos, murals and marches
Jill Spratt, Lecturer in Graphic Design, Brand and Advertising, Ulster University
Using GIS technology to support communal water dispute resolution in Punjab, Pakistan
Quratulain Fatima, Project Lead, Agency for Barani Areas Development
Understanding the links between mental health, transgenerational trauma and peacebuilding
Siobhan O’Neill, Professor of Mental Health Sciences, Ulster University
ISOOKO: digital platforms for building peace through information-driven dialogue
Mark Hedges, Senior Lecturer, Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London
Philipp Grunewald, Research Associate, Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London
Stories of Home: A Refugee Youth Playback Theatre Employment Project
Bonface Beti, Artist Peacebuilder, Amani Peoples Theatre
The ‘hidden barriers’ to community cohesion: revealing the everyday architectural legacy of conflict in Belfast’s social-housing communities
David Coyles, Lecturer in Architecture, Belfast School of Architecture and Built Environment, Ulster University
Unemployment and coexistence
Khaled Kaouk, Founder, We Open Windows
Computer clubs to foster intercultural learning and understanding
Konstantin Aal, Research Assistant, University of Siegen
Harnessing technology for community-led innovation
Paul Braithwaite, Programme Leader, Building Change Trust
A shared education NW Children’s Science Centre – The Amelia Earhart STEAM Zone – Creativity and Inclusion
Mary Casey, Founder Director, Amelia Earhart STEAM Zone NI Charity
Back
More

Interactive Exhibition, Arts & Evening Programs
Sponsors
Build Peace 2018 was brought to you by Build Up and the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building.
Build Peace 2018 was made possible thanks to our academic partner.