After a multi-year hiatus imposed by the pandemic, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, is relaunching its heralded Summer Institute. Set to take place May 20-24, 2025, the gathering has been rebranded with a modified name and focus to meet the needs and interests of prospective participants.
Now called the Strategic Peacebuilding Institute, the event seeks to bring together peace researchers, practitioners, and those in the policy world who work on peacebuilding issues, to foster professional development and relationship-building across sectors. Each year will offer a different theme of focus; for summer 2025, the theme is ‘Peace Processes.’
“Next year’s kick-off of the Strategic Peacebuilding Institute marks the Kroc Institute’s formal re-entry into summer educational programming,” said Kathryn Sawyer Vidrine, assistant director of the Institute’s doctoral studies program, who is co-leading the Strategic Peacebuilding Institute.
“After several years of being on pause due to the pandemic, it’s a thrill to be able to offer in-person summer education at Notre Dame,” she said.
In preparation for next year’s relaunch, the Kroc Institute offered a week-long workshop in June 2024, “Using Deliberative Technologies in Polarized Contexts,” in partnership with the Toda Peace Institute, based in Tokyo. The workshop was spearheaded by Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. professor of the practice of peace studies and senior research fellow with the Toda Peace Institute.
“This summer’s workshop was a great way to ready ourselves for next year’s gathering – a reminder of the Kroc Institute’s long-standing tradition of offering fabulous summer education for attendees from all over the world,” said Sawyer Vidrine.
Throughout the Strategic Peacebuilding Institute, participants will have the chance to engage in a variety of sessions designed to assist them with working on pressing issues of peacebuilding around the globe, creating connections, and building relevant skills related to that year’s theme. Sessions will draw from top-level expertise in peace research, policy, and practice.
Since its inception in 2008, the Summer Institute has attracted 400+ attendees from more than 100 different academic institutions—including 23 Catholic colleges and universities—across six continents. Its creation was a natural for the Kroc Institute, a global leader in peace studies that advances scholarly research and comprehensive education, and cultivates innovation in reflective practice and public engagement.
Participants for next year’s Strategic Peacebuilding Institute will be selected via an application process. An application form will be posted online as of Aug. 1, 2024, with submissions due Oct. 15, 2024. Selections will be made before the end of the calendar year.
For more information and to be added to our mailing list, please email Kroc Institute Executive Director Erin Corcoran at ecorcora@nd.edu, and visit the Strategic Peacebuilding Institute webpage for the latest details.