The home for field-based peace research and action at NYUSPS and the Center for Global Affairs.
Universities can be catalysts for peacebuilding.
Working at the intersection of higher education and peacebuilding, the Peace Research and Education Program (PREP) supports the activation of local networks of peacebuilders.
Applied Research
PREP believes people are resilient and have the capacity to build more peaceful communities. With its university affiliates in Iraq and Colombia, PREP aims to give support to academic institutions and local actors that are in the process of rebuilding the social fabric of their communities in the wake of years of violent conflict.
Our Work in Iraq
After more than 15 years of working in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) with the University of Duhok (UoD), PREP and UoD not only continue to expand their work with local youth in KRI, but have now also partnered with the University of Mosul in its efforts to reconstruct Maslawi society after occupation by ISIS.
In the wake of the historic Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP, PREP has partnered with the Escuela Superior de Administración Pública tocontribute to peacebuilding knowledge and practice with a particular focus in rural territories.
PREP is supporting soon-to-be established Al Salaam University — the first university to teach law, business and engineering through the lens of peacebuilding — in program and curriculum development, and staff training.
PREP creates opportunities for young people to build on their skills and passions to create more peaceful communities.
Peace is the Key to Happiness
Young peacebuilders in Sheikhan, Iraq wrote, produced, and directed this short film as part of a University of Duhok and PREP project aimed to strengthen youth capacity in peacebuilding.
With courses and events at CGA, PREP connects master's students with peacebuilding professionals and organizations throughout the world to gain international peacebuilding work and research experience.
Far too much attention has been directed in recent decades to the pursuit of short-term solutions to pressing global challenges such as violent extremism and the use of violence to achieve political objectives. Too little attention -- and far too few resources -- have been directed toward genuine long-term peacebuilding, perhaps the only truly effective method of undermining the phenomenon of violence.
The Peace Research and Education Program (PREP) seeks to help reverse that imbalance and to equip this and future generations with skills and knowledge that will sustain such a change. PREP engages in field-based action research linked with formal and informal educational initiatives that aim to build resilience to violence. PREP works closely with local and international affiliates who are dedicated to understanding the delicate balance between peacefulness and violence, and the everyday actions that contribute to both phenomena.
Research increasingly shows that massive problems, such as the worldwide population displacement crisis, can only be addressed meaningfully by engaging with the displaced on a local level and helping them to draw upon existing resources to build more sustainably peaceful societies while also engaging with political, economic and social systems that have caused mass displacement to occur. PREP develops meaningful relationships with local populations and leverages its position at the NYUSPS Center for Global Affairs to give a global voice to local actors. Connecting the local to the global—and the global to the local—is a central objective of PREP.
Only when actors at all levels truly understand and accept the importance of pursuing constructive and mutually beneficial relationships will we begin to see the emergence of peaceful processes of political, economic and social change as a global norm. Please follow our efforts, take part in our events and feel free to share your ideas with us. The more people and organizations we engage in this work—and in the conversation that surrounds it—the closer we will come to achieving our goals.
Far too much attention has been directed in recent decades to the pursuit of short-term solutions to pressing global challenges such as violent extremism and the use of violence to achieve political objectives. Too little attention -- and far too few resources -- have been directed toward genuine long-term peacebuilding, perhaps the only truly effective method of undermining the phenomenon of violence.
The Peace Research and Education Program (PREP) seeks to help reverse that imbalance and to equip this and future generations with skills and knowledge that will sustain such a change. PREP engages in field-based action research linked with formal and informal educational initiatives that aim to build resilience to violence. PREP works closely with local and international affiliates who are dedicated to understanding the delicate balance between peacefulness and violence, and the everyday actions that contribute to both phenomena.
Research increasingly shows that massive problems, such as the worldwide population displacement crisis, can only be addressed meaningfully by engaging with the displaced on a local level and helping them to draw upon existing resources to build more sustainably peaceful societies while also engaging with political, economic and social systems that have caused mass displacement to occur. PREP develops meaningful relationships with local populations and leverages its position at the NYUSPS Center for Global Affairs to give a global voice to local actors. Connecting the local to the global—and the global to the local—is a central objective of PREP.
Only when actors at all levels truly understand and accept the importance of pursuing constructive and mutually beneficial relationships will we begin to see the emergence of peaceful processes of political, economic and social change as a global norm. Please follow our efforts, take part in our events and feel free to share your ideas with us. The more people and organizations we engage in this work—and in the conversation that surrounds it—the closer we will come to achieving our goals.