by Raghda Abu-Shala, Palestine When we first arrived at the 2014 IPSI Bologna Symposium each participant was asked to choose one training day to write a blog post reflecting our thoughts on what we [...]
by Mojdeh Abtahi, Iran We concluded the second week of the 2014 Bologna Symposium with Clingendael Institute Deputy Director Wilbur Perlot as well as Alvaro de Soto, a career diplomat who has held senior positions [...]
by Punya Bagga, India/Canada As we moved into our third week of the symposium, we were introduced to a form of conflict resolution, or more appropriately, a different way of waging conflict: nonviolent action. Hailing [...]
by Amy Guest, USA When I started graduate school nearly a year ago, I was positive that I wanted to get involved in international relations and diplomacy. My end goal was to work for the [...]
by Claire Connellan, Austrailia On Thursday, as our third week at the Bologna Symposium neared its end, we began the first of two days of presentations by Jack Duvall, Dr. Maciej Bartkowski and Dr. [...]
by Marta d'Agosto, Italy When Dept. Secretary General Jan Eliasson gave the keynote speech at the 2014 Bologna IPSI Symposium, the students asked him, “What shall we take into account when working in the humanitarian [...]
by Nastasha Tara Hibbard, South Africa How can reconciliation be achieved when the memory of a conflict and the need for justice weighs heavy on one's soul? This is a question that many people, including myself, have [...]
by Elinah Nciizah, Zimbabwe We are in our last week at the IPSI 2014 Bologna Symposium yet every day is a first-hand discovery of shared thoughts, ideas, knowledge and practice. Certainly, learning at the 2014 [...]
by Thea Price, United States This week at the 2014 IPSI Bologna Symposium we were so fortunate to have the opportunity to hear from an incredible mediator and peace builder with over twenty years’ experience, [...]
by Oscar Sánchez Piñeiro As we have seen from the 2014 IPSI Bologna Symposium speakers who have presented their work in the last few weeks, there exists a proliferation of NGOs and private entities involved [...]
by Stephen Wilson, Australia The year was 1992. Senior Political Advisor, Álvaro de Soto was accompanying recently-appointed United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on a long-haul flight. With the recently achieved El Salvadorean Chapultepec Peace Accords [...]
by Shirin Khosropour, USA/Iran The rain came down fast and we welcomed this change in the weather. On this Monday of our third week, some braved the rain to walk the 20-minutes to the John’s [...]
by Mara Goldberg, United States I first interacted with Dr. Joyce Neu in March. I had recently completed my undergraduate degree and was searching for organizations that could provide me with career advice in conflict [...]
by Trust Mamombe, Zimbabwe Enter Wilbur Perlot, the Deputy Director of the Clingendael Academy and a ‘Specialist in Difficult Negotiations’ (SDN, my creative acronym). Here is a man with a non-negotiably long CV. That being [...]
by Melissa Gregg, United Kingdom As we come to the end of this week, it’s hard to believe that the 2014 Bologna Symposium is at its halfway point. As a graduate of the 2013 Hague [...]
by Zachary Laranang, United States 2014 IPSI Bologna participants Zach Laranang and Marta D'Agosto on panel during negotiations The second week in Bologna was even better than the first! It was all about [...]
by Robert Heyn, Germany Last Wednesday was a very special day for me. I was very much looking forward to Wilbur Perlot's class on international negotiation. Whenever negotiation was on the schedule during my undergraduate [...]
by Stephen Di Lorenzo, Australia Over the last few years my adventures in the world of peacebuilding and conflict management have been rather limited, yet my enthusiasm for the field has grown. My foray into [...]
By Rishita Apsani, India/Canada Conflict is an inevitable and healthy part of the human condition and our role as peace builders is not to stomp out conflict as such, but to move it away [...]
by Tom Hasani, United States As a human being in search of a higher power, it has been a difficult life trying to understand the perpetuation of violent conflict in the name of different Gods. [...]
by Trust Mamombe, Zimbabwe After docking in at the IPSI Symposium in tuneful Bologna for just over a week, and with a barrage of refined knowledge and well thought out simulation calisthenics on peace and [...]
By Douglas Munemo, Zimbabwe It was an eventful and action packed day here in Bologna spent sharpening our conflict prevention and resolution skills as Michael Shipler and Rajendra Mulmi from Search for Common Ground (SFCG) [...]
by Amanda Chittleborough, Australia We concluded the first week of the Symposium with husband and wife team John Marks and Susan Collin Marks. They are the founders, President, and Senior Vice President, respectively, of the [...]
by, Samantha Twietmeyer, Canada Our conflict resolution toolboxes are being filled as we work through our first week in sunny Bologna. In his session on social entrepreneurship, John Marks, co-creator and president of Search for [...]
by Caterina Manzi, Italy “Which part of Italy are you from?” My typical answer to this question used to be: “Bologna...It's in the center-North of the country” But, living in Mexico I soon learned that [...]
by Leo Guardado, El Salvador/USA Ambassador Jan Eliasson, United Nations Deputy Secretary General, addressed the 2014 IPSI Bologna Symposium on the first formal day of our month-long training. Though he provided an overview of the [...]
by David Carpenter, Canada Peacemaking is difficult. That is the lesson I learned from our first foray into conflict prevention: The Simulation of the OSCE in the Ukraine-Crimea Crisis. With a Model United Nations/Crisis [...]
by Tom Hasani, United States As the first formal day of the symposium began our IPSI-Bologna cohort was anxiously awaiting the Symposium’s keynote speaker-- Ambassador Jan Eliasson, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Ambassador Eliasson [...]
