What is the format of the PCRC2026 conference?

The conference is an in-person event, providing a platform for direct engagement and networking.

When does the conference take place?

The conference is scheduled to begin in the fall and conclude a few days later.

11th International Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference (PCRC2026)

Name: 11th International Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference (PCRC2026)
Start: 2026-11-13T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-11-15T00:00:00Z
Location: Bangkok

Nov 13–15, 2026Bangkok, ThailandIn-person

Registration open

The 11th International Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference (PCRC2026) convenes in Bangkok, THA, bringing together academics, researchers, and practitioners to explore contemporary challenges and innovative solutions in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. The conference provides a platform for sharing research, discussing policy implications, and fostering collaborations aimed at advancing global peace efforts. Participants will engage with diverse perspectives on conflict dynamics and peace processes.

Committees & topics

Topics
Conflict Analysis & Dynamics · Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue · Peacebuilding & Post-Conflict Recovery · Human Rights & Social Justice · Trauma Healing & Psychosocial Support · Grassroots & Community-Led Peace Initiatives · Education, Research & Knowledge Exchange

Why it matters

In an era marked by complex global challenges, understanding and effectively addressing conflict is paramount. This conference offers a critical forum for dissecting the multifaceted nature of modern conflicts, from interstate disputes to internal strife, and examining the efficacy of various peacebuilding interventions. By gathering experts from across the globe, PCRC2026 facilitates a rich exchange of ideas that can inform more robust and sustainable peace strategies.

The discussions at PCRC2026 are particularly relevant given the evolving landscape of international relations. The conference's focus on innovative approaches underscores the need for adaptability in peace and conflict resolution, moving beyond traditional frameworks to incorporate new methodologies and technologies. This forward-looking perspective is essential for developing solutions that are resilient to future challenges and capable of addressing the root causes of conflict.

Furthermore, the event's location in Bangkok, THA, provides a unique regional context for examining peace and conflict issues, particularly those relevant to Southeast Asia and the broader Asian continent. This geographical focus allows for a deeper exploration of regional dynamics, cultural nuances, and specific challenges that may not be adequately addressed in more generalized global forums. The insights gained can contribute to more localized and effective peace initiatives.

How to prepare

Delegates preparing for PCRC2026 should consider delving into the foundational principles of conflict analysis, such as those discussed in the lesson on "What Is Stakeholder Mapping?" and "The Power-Interest Grid." Understanding the various actors involved in a conflict and their respective interests is crucial for effective peacebuilding. Additionally, a review of "Understanding Motivations" can provide valuable insights into the underlying drivers of conflict and cooperation.

Given the international scope of the conference, participants would benefit from exploring the complexities of cross-cultural interactions and their impact on peace processes. The lesson on "Gender Dynamics Across Cultures" offers a pertinent framework for understanding how social structures and identities influence conflict and resolution efforts. This preparation will enable a more nuanced engagement with the diverse perspectives presented at the conference.

Finally, delegates should be prepared to engage in "Dynamic Analysis" of current global and regional conflicts. This involves not only understanding historical contexts but also critically evaluating ongoing developments and potential future trajectories. Such an analytical approach will allow participants to contribute meaningfully to discussions on emerging challenges and innovative solutions in peace and conflict resolution.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 3 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Thailand

As the host nation, THA plays a crucial role in facilitating dialogue on peace and conflict resolution, particularly within the Southeast Asian context.

Role in topic

THA provides a neutral and accessible venue for international discussions on peace, often serving as a hub for regional diplomacy and academic exchange on conflict prevention and resolution.

United States

The USA is a significant global actor in peace and conflict resolution, often involved in mediation, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid.

Role in topic

The USA contributes substantially to research and policy development in peace studies, and its foreign policy decisions frequently impact international conflict dynamics and peace processes.

United Kingdom

The GBR maintains a strong commitment to international peace and security, engaging in multilateral efforts and providing expertise in conflict resolution.

Role in topic

The GBR is active in various international organizations and initiatives aimed at fostering peace, contributing to academic discourse, and implementing practical peacebuilding programs globally.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Conflict Analysis & Dynamics

Modern conflict analysis emerged as a distinct field in the post-Cold War era, when the surge of intrastate wars in the Balkans, the Great Lakes region of Africa, and the Caucasus exposed the inadequacy of state-centric security frameworks. Scholars and practitioners — drawing on the work of Johan Galtung, Edward Azar's protracted social conflict theory, and later the conflict-sensitivity frameworks developed by International Alert and the World Bank — began mapping the structural, proximate, and trigger causes of violence. The UN's 1992 Agenda for Peace formalized the idea that understanding conflict drivers was a prerequisite for any preventive or remedial action. Today, the discipline grapples with a far more complex landscape: hybrid warfare, transnational insurgencies, climate-induced resource competition, and the weaponization of information. Data-driven tools such as ACLED, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, and the UN's early warning systems have improved the granularity of analysis, but core debates persist over how to weigh greed versus grievance, identity versus material interests, and local versus geopolitical drivers. The fragmentation of armed groups in the Sahel, Myanmar, and Sudan illustrates the limits of conventional typologies. The contemporary policy question is how analytical frameworks can keep pace with rapidly evolving conflict ecosystems, and how findings can be translated into actionable prevention rather than retrospective explanation.

Key players

Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

International mediation has deep roots in 20th-century diplomacy, from the 1978 Camp David Accords to the Oslo back-channel of 1993 and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The UN institutionalized the practice with the creation of the Mediation Support Unit in 2006 and the 2012 UN Guidance for Effective Mediation, which codified principles of consent, impartiality, inclusivity, and national ownership. Regional bodies — the African Union, ASEAN, the OSCE, and ECOWAS — have built parallel mediation capacities, often in partnership with states such as Norway, Switzerland, and Qatar that have cultivated reputations as honest brokers. The field is now under significant strain. Major mediation efforts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Ukraine, and Sudan have stalled or collapsed, and the proliferation of armed non-state actors has complicated questions of who sits at the table. Geopolitical polarization has weakened the UN Security Council's ability to back mediated outcomes, while new actors — Türkiye, the UAE, and China — increasingly compete with traditional Western and Nordic mediators. Track II and Track 1.5 dialogues, women-led mediation networks, and digital dialogue platforms have grown in importance as formal processes falter. The central debate is how to revive credible mediation in a fragmented multipolar order, ensure inclusive participation (particularly of women and youth per UNSCR 1325), and prevent peace processes from becoming mere ceasefire management.

Key players

Peacebuilding & Post-Conflict Recovery

Peacebuilding emerged as a distinct UN agenda following Boutros Boutros-Ghali's 1992 Agenda for Peace and was institutionalized through the creation of the Peacebuilding Commission, Peacebuilding Fund, and Peacebuilding Support Office in 2005. The framework was reinforced by the 2015 'sustaining peace' resolutions (A/RES/70/262 and S/RES/2282), which broadened the concept from post-conflict reconstruction to a continuum encompassing prevention, response, and recovery. The New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States (2011) and the g7+ grouping further shaped principles of national ownership and inclusive politics. In practice, peacebuilding has produced mixed results. Successes in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and parts of the Balkans contrast with relapse into conflict in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Libya, and Ethiopia's Tigray region. Chronic underfunding of the Peacebuilding Fund, the closure of major peacekeeping operations (MINUSMA, MONUSCO), and donor fatigue have raised concerns about the durability of post-conflict transitions. Climate shocks, debt distress, and the resurgence of military coups in the Sahel further complicate recovery trajectories. Current debates center on financing the sustaining peace agenda, integrating climate and development tools with peacebuilding, and ensuring that DDR (disarmament, demobilization, reintegration) and transitional justice processes are tailored to local political realities.

Key players

Trauma Healing & Psychosocial Support

Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) gained recognition in humanitarian practice through the 2007 IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, which established a tiered intervention pyramid still used by UN agencies and NGOs. WHO's Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and the 2019-2023 Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan further mainstreamed psychosocial care into health systems. The recognition of intergenerational trauma — pioneered in studies of Holocaust survivors and extended to Rwanda, Cambodia, and indigenous communities — has shaped contemporary approaches. Demand for trauma healing has surged amid simultaneous crises in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Syria, and Afghanistan, alongside the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO estimates that one in five people in conflict-affected settings experiences a mental health condition, yet fewer than 2% of national health budgets globally are allocated to mental health, and the figure is far lower in low-income countries. Community-based models — including those drawing on indigenous healing practices, faith-based approaches, and survivor-led networks — have gained traction as scalable complements to clinical care. Key debates focus on decolonizing trauma frameworks beyond Western clinical paradigms, integrating MHPSS into transitional justice and reintegration of ex-combatants, and securing sustainable financing for mental health in fragile settings.

Key players

Grassroots & Community-Led Peace Initiatives

Local peacebuilding has long predated formal international frameworks, from traditional dispute resolution councils (jirgas, gacaca, bashingantahe) to community reconciliation rituals across the Pacific and West Africa. The international community began to systematically engage with local actors through the 1990s, but the field gained renewed prominence after the 2015 UN review of peace operations (the HIPPO report) and the sustaining peace resolutions emphasized 'national and local ownership.' The 2018 Stockholm Declaration and the Local2Global movement further pushed donors to channel resources directly to community organizations. Despite rhetorical commitments, the Grand Bargain target of 25% of humanitarian funding to local actors remains unmet — actual figures hover around 4-5%. Insider mediators, women's peace huts in Liberia, the Wajir peace process in Kenya, and civil society dialogue platforms in Yemen and Syria illustrate the durability and creativity of grassroots approaches. Yet local peacebuilders face mounting risks: targeted violence, shrinking civic space, anti-NGO legislation, and the diversion of funds to militarized counterterrorism agendas. The key debates concern how to genuinely shift power and resources to local actors, how to protect peacebuilders under threat, and how to bridge community-level gains with national-level political settlements without co-opting or instrumentalizing grassroots movements.

Key players

Education, Research & Knowledge Exchange

Peace education traces its institutional lineage to UNESCO's founding mandate in 1945 to build 'defences of peace' in the minds of people, and was reinforced by the 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding and the 1999 Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. SDG 4.7 explicitly calls for education for sustainable development, global citizenship, and a culture of peace. Peace and conflict studies as an academic discipline grew from the founding of PRIO (1959), the Tampere Peace Research Institute, and the University for Peace in Costa Rica (1980), with hundreds of programs now operating worldwide. Knowledge exchange has been transformed by digital platforms — open-access journals, the Peace Research Institute networks, and online courses through institutions such as UPEACE and the Folke Bernadotte Academy. Yet significant inequalities persist: Global South scholars remain underrepresented in top journals, research funding is concentrated in a handful of donor countries, and conflict zones often face the dual challenge of attacks on education (documented by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack) and brain drain. The rise of generative AI raises new questions about evidence quality, misinformation, and the ethics of research in fragile contexts. Contemporary debates focus on decolonizing peace research, protecting education in conflict (per the Safe Schools Declaration), and building South-South and triangular research partnerships that move beyond extractive models of knowledge production.

Key players

Resources

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Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Understanding Motivations

Hidden Stakeholders

Dynamic Analysis

Gender Dynamics Across Cultures

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Negotiation Fundamentals

Thailand November 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

11th International Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference (PCRC2026)

Nov 13–15, 2026Bangkok, ThailandIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Conflict Analysis & Dynamics · Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue · Peacebuilding & Post-Conflict Recovery · Human Rights & Social Justice · Trauma Healing & Psychosocial Support · Grassroots & Community-Led Peace Initiatives · Education, Research & Knowledge Exchange

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 3 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Thailand

As the host nation, THA plays a crucial role in facilitating dialogue on peace and conflict resolution, particularly within the Southeast Asian context.

Role in topic

THA provides a neutral and accessible venue for international discussions on peace, often serving as a hub for regional diplomacy and academic exchange on conflict prevention and resolution.

United States

The USA is a significant global actor in peace and conflict resolution, often involved in mediation, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid.

Role in topic

The USA contributes substantially to research and policy development in peace studies, and its foreign policy decisions frequently impact international conflict dynamics and peace processes.

United Kingdom

The GBR maintains a strong commitment to international peace and security, engaging in multilateral efforts and providing expertise in conflict resolution.

Role in topic

The GBR is active in various international organizations and initiatives aimed at fostering peace, contributing to academic discourse, and implementing practical peacebuilding programs globally.