DIRECTOR MESSAGE

Peace & Conflict; the quintessence of life of any individual from any walk of life & in any society form a life process that can shake it to the core or mend it. Conflicts arise as a result of poor communication between parties/countries/individuals. Peace is a permanent underlying objective each entity aims to attain. The intricate relationship between peace and conflict and the understanding, measuring, processing and exhibition of the sound status of that relationship is not a simple task. It is maintained through the possession of proper machinery to handle and tackle conflicts and incorporate peace into the living cells of society.

Therefore, the need to organize a field by the title “Peace and Conflict studies” became more and more inevitable with increase in globalization and modernization of a once conservative world order. Hence, in the 1960s, Social Sciences branches out into another field that microscopically deals with interpersonal interactions, mesoscopically within countries and macroscopically among civilizations.

In the light of the field’s rising demand in international politics, the University of Peshawar serves the role of a trailblazer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for establishing the “Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies (IPCS)” offering both under- and post-graduate programs. Acknowledging the fact that peacemaking is no longer the exclusive domain of governments, communities and citizens are now actively engaged in peacemaking. IPCS stands at the leading edge of innovative research and practice in conflict mitigation and peace building.

Our faculty and students often work together on projects that make a difference in the lives of vulnerable peoples. The institute advocates for the need for transdisciplinarity by drawing from a diverse collection of disciplines. It also serves as a Think Tank by continuous commitment of reaching out to pursue bilateral exchanges, host workshops and conferences, short-term courses, research, analysis, studies and other academic activities, with the hope to make meaningful contributions in dealing with the contemporary and future security and peace challenges.

I welcome you for an enlightening journey towards greater success in resolving conflict and promoting peace in association with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Peshawar (IPCS|UOP).