The CPDC is the main pillar of a university-wide curriculum "Master's module International Peacebuilding and Conflict Transition". The module focuses on processes, strategies and measures in (post-)conflict areas that are designed to prevent the (re-)outbreak of armed conflict in the long term. This concerns issues of armed and unarmed intervention, external state and social influence on the part of the international community of states and civil society as well as peace processes in the broadest sense. The module aims to impart scientifically sound legal, political and social science skills for working in (post-)conflict societies. There is virtually no competition in continental Europe for a university education in peacebuilding with a focus on peace processes.

The module, which is taught entirely in English, enables students to work in (post-)conflict areas, for example in international organizations, government agencies and organizations, (national and international) NGOs or consultancies. An internship programme with the help of the international networks of the CPDC organizations is also intended to provide a real connection to professional practice.

Within the framework of the CPDC, a study focus on peace, conflict and democracy has been developed for law students. This is an optional specialization within the curriculum. All organizations of the CPDC are represented with their courses. Thus, this program is strongly interdisciplinary. On the foundation of law, it integrates social and political science disciplines. The program aims to provide students with knowledge about the emergence and management of intra-state, inter-ethnic and international conflicts, the embedding of these conflicts in political communities and their "regulation" through the legal system, as well as alternative conflict resolution mechanisms. Accordingly, a broad repertoire of possibilities for analysis and adequate intervention in the respective conflict situation will be acquired.

The project focuses on the intersection of conspiracy myths and hate speech - two phenomena that have alarmingly increased in recent years. While anti-Semitism seems to be overrepresented in current conspiracy myths, other forms of hate speech seem to fade into the background at first glance. This applies, for example, to anti-Muslim racism, which fuels the right-wing conspiracy myth of the 'Great Exchange', to conspiracy constructions directed against Roma, or to anti-feminist narratives. E-ACTS therefore uses a qualitative mix of methods to investigate how conspiracy myths and hate speech are interrelated, focusing on anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, and anti-feminist resentments, using relevant social media channels in four European countries. Based on these research results, the project develops and tests trainings aimed at multipliers from civil society.

With support from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, ASPR launched a national reconciliation initiative in September 2020. Iraq remains fragmented along sectarian, religious, ethnic, and generational lines and is caught in open conflict between political elites and a large protest movement. Clientelism, mutual distrust and contempt remain widespread more than a decade after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Finally, U.S.-Iranian rivalry and the struggle for influence are also driving the politicization of Shiites and Sunnis and thus fragmentation. These conflicts repeatedly foster escalations of violence. Through a series of dialogue meetings between representatives from across the Iraqi political spectrum, the project seeks to build mutual trust and formulate a common Iraqi vision – as a guiding principle for a more peaceful Iraq for all its inhabitants. This CPDC project is also supported by the Law Faculty of the University of Graz.

Within the framework of the Conflict - Peace - Democracy Cluster (CPDC), the Institute for the Foundations of Law and the Center for Social Competence support the Peace Center at Schlaining Castle (ASPR) in a project to strengthen social cohesion in Burgenland. The aim is to create the institutional basis for professional peace and conflict work at the municipal level. 
Specifically, the project aims to establish a mediation service and support for citizen participation processes in the areas of housing/neighborhoods, communities and integration. The project partners are thus responding to a situation that is described (not only) at the municipal level as increasing polarization and thus as a threat to social and societal cohesion. The hallmarks of this situation include a general sense of insecurity due to changes in social structures, a creeping increase in social inequality, and an uncertain way of dealing with the effects of flight and migration. This is associated with a rise in populist aspirations and a general complaint of increasing aggressiveness and intolerance. The example of citizens' initiatives illustrates one feature of this new situation: While these were initially seen predominantly as an opportunity and as a gain for the democratic way of life, there is currently also growing concern that they could be accompanied by a curtailment of tolerance, social empathy and mutual consideration legitimized from below.

Within the framework of the CPDC cooperation, the conference seeks to make visible the expertise of researchers at the University of Graz on the important areas of peace and conflict. Even though peace and conflict research in particular has become more and more established as such, the scientific study of conflict and peace is mostly still scattered across many different scientific disciplines, even if different terminologies are used. This concerns different scientific subjects as well as different faculties. At the University of Graz, too, research on peace and conflict takes place in many different academic fields: from the natural sciences to the theological subjects, from law to the humanities and cultural studies.

This gathering of more than 30 researchers from various fields in exactly that thematic field within the framework of the conference is intended to lay the foundation for strengthening peace and conflict research at the University of Graz and to serve as a starting point for further scientific undertakings: The conference will be followed by an anthology as well as a lecture series in the academic year 2021/22, in order to also allow students to participate in this initiative in a comprehensive way. The conference should have taken place in September 2020, but was postponed to spring or fall 2021 due to Covid19.

The Austrian Development Agency ADA is funding a project developed by the IKF on the topic of "gender justice glocal". The participatory project combines content workshops on Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda (gender equality) with workshops on art in the street (graffiti) and media in youth centers. The goals are knowledge acquisition, reflection on a local and global level, sensitization for the topic of violence and finally the empowerment of the participants, whereby this self-empowerment is based in particular on the acquisition of new skills in the artistic as well as in the media field. The graffiti workshops are carried out by the street art collective Feminist Killjoy. The dissemination of the "products" of the project – apart from the visibility of the graffiti in the (semi-)public space – is done by the young people themselves in their social media channels, but also through a professional media campaign and the video of a media company. Digital communication of the results is essential to make them available to as many users as possible.

Cooperation partners within the CPDC are the Democracy Center Vienna, which will conduct workshops on global citizenship education with young people, and the Institute for Cultural Anthropology at the University of Graz, which is responsible for the external evaluation.

As part of ASPR's Homeland Earth campaign, which has been running since 2020, the 37th Summer Academy on the theme Homeland Earth: Peace Politics in the Age of the Anthropocene will take place from September 1-5, 2021. The foundation of the campaign and the Summer Academy is the work Terre-Patrie (1993) written by Edgar Morin. This work is particularly topical due to the global Covid 19 pandemic. However, the pandemic should be seen as only one element of a so-called polycrisis: Man-made climate change, the extinction of species triggered by our way of economy and life, the danger of self-extinction by a nuclear strike, and nationalistically motivated wars are further elements of a very threatening overall situation. To counteract this, a reform of thinking, feeling and acting as well as a common consciousness as a human community of destiny is needed. On the occasion of Morin's 100th birthday in 2021, we would like to rethink his theses, develop them further and discuss the resulting perspectives for action.

In cooperation with the UNAMID (African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur) the CPD cluster has been directing the highly successful project “Engaging Armed Groups to end the Six Grave Child Rights Violations in Darfur” since 2017. The UNI-ETC Graz also joined the project with the aim to contribute to the reduction of the six grave child rights violations by engaging with every relevant active rebel group in Dafur. The goal is to diminish direct and indirect violent behavior, whereby the project seeks to promote sustainable peace within the region (Sustainable Development Goal SDG 16) and positively affect the lives of 2,4 million children. To reach these objectives, two conferences along with capacity development workshops are planned while the UNAMID CPU is being consulted on confidence-building measures with rebel groups. In March 2019 two important rebel groups met in Stadtschlaining and Graz. Their representatives concluded on improving the situation on internally displaced civilians.
A few weeks after those negotiations, Sudanese President Omar Bashir was ousted. UNI-ETC and ASPR contributed to shaping this transition period through the facilitation of a conference comprising the organisations that constritute the alliance "Sudan Call" which includes Sudan's opposition parties.

Initially created by the Herbert C. Kelman Institute, this project was assumed by the cluster in 2017. In cooperation with the ASPR and the University of Graz, the cluster supports the C. Kelman Institute to facilitate the establishment of a basic agreement between devout Muslims and Jews since their disagreement poses a significant challenge to any moderate consensus between Israel and PLO. In that respect, backchannel negotiations are crucial to the overall development of the peace talks.

Since 2013, the international dialogue project titled „BUILDING THE PEACE REGION ALPS-ADRIA (PRAA) – Envisioning the Future by Dealing with the Past. Promoting Open and Inclusive Dialogue and Public Discourse within Austria and Slovenia and between the Countries“ has been focusing on the transformation of recurring conflicts between memory cultures and politics by creating a transnational and intercultural “Peace Region Alps-Adria.” In specific, it investigates the historic roots of socio-psychological barriers to enable the development of a culture of peace within this region. Steered by the University of Graz, the Herbert C. Kelman Institute, and the ethnic studies department at the University of Ljubljana and the Peace Research and Peace Education Center at the University of Klagenfurt, the CPD cluster began to actively contribute to the project in 2017. To make the results of the dialogue processes accessible to the public, a documentation and evaluation of the project’s progress will be available as an interdisciplinary publication in 2018.

The online blog contributes to the informative exchange between the scientific and political landscapes. It emphasizes the relevance and potentials of different scientific approaches and perspectives to the work of political agents, ranging from civil society to official decision makers.

https://policyblog.uni-graz.at/