Peacebuilding a shared Northern Irish society
Belfast Stores: a vision for inclusivity and growthby Allan LEONARD13 February 2025 Organised by NICVA, about 20 members of the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector toured the landmark art-deco former Bank of Ireland building at the top of Royal Avenue, to learn more about Belfast City Councilโs Belfast Stories, a project that will be a public... Continue Reading →
Peacemakersโ ball: woven Belfast storiesby Allan LEONARD8 February 2025 In coloured chalk on a black board, a sign outside Belfastโs city centre communal space at 2 Royal Avenue invited passersby to come in and participate in Peacemakers, a craft exercise to make stitches with alternating colours of yarn on an oversized French loom, then return to... Continue Reading →
Peace process as โa long, slow murmurationโ: the Mark Durkan interviewsby Allan LEONARD27 January 2025 The John and Pat Hume Foundation organised three events to launch a book by Graham Spencer โ The SDLP, Politics and Peace: The Mark Durkan Interviews. Dawn Purvis chaired the event held at Ulster University, interviewing both author and subject, revealing insights from... Continue Reading →
The afterlife of Troublesโ memoriesby Allan LEONARD10 December 2024 Why do survivors of the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland recall what they do when providing their oral histories to interviewers? What is the collective effect? In a seminar, โThe Afterlife of Feelings in Oral Histories of the Troublesโ, Ulster University INCORE visiting professor Graham Dawson... Continue Reading →
Policing divided societies: Kosovo and Northern Irelandby Mihane HOXHA and Allan LEONARD29 November 2024 Would further exchanges between the police services of Kosovo and Northern Ireland be beneficial, or have recent challenges proved too great? Olga Stefanoviฤ is from the Serbian community, from the village of Leลกak in the Leposaviฤ municipality (in northern Kosovo). She... Continue Reading →
โNothing for the likes of us to be afraid ofโ: Me Oul Segocia reviewby Allan LEONARD13 November 2024 โWeโre quiet, decent folk. Thereโs nothing for the likes of us to be afraid of,โ says Danny, who wants to assure his fiancรฉe Eileen that the increasingly deteriorating security situation in their neighbourhood wonโt seriously affect them... Continue Reading →
Kosovo revisited: crucial role of civic conversations remainsby Allan LEONARD5 September 2024 On the desk of my hotel room in Pristina was a postcard inscribed, โDear Allan, Welcome back to Kosovo! As a returning visitor weโre sure youโll enjoy your time here!โ It was signed โAJK Teamโ, from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, the... Continue Reading →
Impossible Peace: a conversation with Brian Rowan by Allan LEONARD 5 September 2024 In a room packed with dozens of guests at the newly established Black Mountain Shared Space, journalist Mervyn Jess facilitated a conversation with Brian Rowan about his Impossible Peace project, to marry old cassette tapes with a document archive to mark the... Continue Reading →
โImagine a time we can draw hope togetherโ: dreams and visions from Korean children by Allan LEONARD 8 January 2024ย From 8โ12 January, Ulster University hosted at its Belfast York Street campus an exhibition of drawings by children of Korea and its diaspora. The drawings were created as part of programmes in partnership with Okedongmu... Continue Reading →
โA floating processโ: drafting the Downing Street Declaration by Allan LEONARD 6 December 2023 The thirtieth anniversary of the Downing Street Declaration was marked by a panel discussion organised by ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland, North and South) and held at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) in Dublin. RIA member Professor Katy Hayward chaired the... Continue Reading →
Free press crucial for transformative justice in Venezuela: a talk with Luis Carlos Dรญaz by Allan LEONARD 30 October 2023 Luis Carlos Dรญaz, an accomplished journalist from Venezuela and deemed a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was a guest keynote speaker at an event organised by the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at Ulster... Continue Reading →
GRACE: measuring trust for better community relations by Allan LEONARD 21 September 2023 On the International Day of Peace, as part of Good Relations Week, research undertaken through a partnership between the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (Coventry University) and Community Relations in Schools (CRIS) was launched. The research examines the role of... Continue Reading →