What is the primary focus of this conference?

This conference is dedicated to doctoral candidates in Peace Studies, providing a platform for them to present their research and engage in interdisciplinary discussions in Roma, ITA.

Where will the conference take place?

The conference will be held in the city of Roma, ITA.

Who is eligible to attend this event?

The event is designed for individuals at the college level, specifically doctoral candidates in Peace Studies.

Prima Conferenza Internazionale delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Peace Studies

Name: Prima Conferenza Internazionale delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Peace Studies
Start: 2026-09-07T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-09-09T00:00:00Z
Location: Roma

Sep 7–9, 2026Roma, ItalyIn-person

Starts in 30 daysRegistration open

The Prima Conferenza Internazionale delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Peace Studies is an inaugural academic event designed for doctoral candidates in Peace Studies. Hosted in Roma, ITA, this conference provides a platform for emerging scholars to present their research, engage in interdisciplinary dialogue, and contribute to the evolving discourse on peace and conflict. The event underscores the importance of fostering new perspectives and methodologies within the field.

Committees & topics

Topics
The Global Human Rights Regime Under Strain · Conflict Resolution in a Fragmented International Order · Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda at Midpoint · Global Migration Governance · Social Cohesion in Polarized Societies · Restorative Justice in Transitional and Domestic Settings · International Relations in a Multipolar Transition · Environmental Sustainability and Planetary Boundaries

Why it matters

This conference is significant as it specifically targets doctoral researchers, offering a dedicated space for their contributions to be recognized and debated. By focusing on this academic level, the event aims to cultivate the next generation of peace scholars and practitioners, ensuring the continued vitality and innovation of the field. The emphasis on new research and interdisciplinary approaches is crucial for addressing complex global challenges, from conflict resolution to sustainable peacebuilding.

The gathering in Roma, ITA, a city with historical significance, further enriches the context for discussions on peace. It provides an opportunity for participants to network with peers and established academics, fostering collaborations that can transcend national boundaries. Such interactions are vital for developing comprehensive strategies to tackle issues that often have international dimensions, requiring diverse viewpoints and collective action.

How to prepare

For delegates attending this conference, a key preparatory angle involves understanding the diverse methodologies and theoretical frameworks prevalent in contemporary Peace Studies. Given the emphasis on interdisciplinary dialogue, participants should be prepared to articulate how their research connects with broader themes and different academic disciplines. This includes considering how their work might inform policy or practical interventions, moving beyond purely theoretical discussions.

Delegates should also consider how their research addresses global challenges, particularly those with significant international implications. Engaging with concepts such as "climate justice" or the complexities of "anarchy in international relations" can provide a richer context for their presentations. Furthermore, understanding various "engagement strategies" and the dynamics of "hidden stakeholders" will enhance their ability to contribute meaningfully to discussions on practical peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Italy

As the host nation, ITA provides a central European location for academic exchange on peace studies.

Role in topic

ITA, through its academic institutions, plays a role in fostering international scholarly collaboration in peace studies, providing a venue for emerging researchers to share their work and engage in critical dialogue.

Topics & background

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

The Global Human Rights Regime Under Strain

The modern human rights framework was built on the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and consolidated through the 1966 International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Successive instruments — on torture, racial discrimination, women's rights, children's rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities — extended its reach, while the creation of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (1993) and the Human Rights Council (2006) institutionalized monitoring through mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review and the Special Procedures. Despite this architecture, the past decade has seen sustained backsliding. Authoritarian consolidation in several states, the erosion of civic space, mass atrocities in Syria, Myanmar, Xinjiang, Tigray, Sudan, and Gaza, and the weaponization of digital surveillance have exposed the limits of enforcement. At the same time, new frontiers — generative AI, climate displacement, and business and human rights — are stretching existing norms. OHCHR's 2024 reporting on AI governance and GA Resolution 76/300 recognizing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment illustrate how the regime is attempting to adapt while core compliance gaps widen.

Key players

Conflict Resolution in a Fragmented International Order

Conflict resolution as a field emerged after the Second World War alongside the UN Charter's Chapter VI (pacific settlement) and Chapter VII (collective security) provisions, and matured during the Cold War through mediation practice, peacekeeping, and academic work by figures such as Johan Galtung on positive and negative peace. The post-1990 era saw a surge of UN-brokered settlements — in Cambodia, Mozambique, El Salvador, the Balkans — and the elaboration of doctrines such as the Responsibility to Protect (2005) and the Sustaining Peace agenda (2016). Today the landscape is markedly more difficult. Battle deaths are at their highest since the 1990s, driven by interstate war in Ukraine, regionalized conflict in the Middle East, and protracted civil wars in Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar, and the Sahel. Security Council paralysis among the P5, the proliferation of non-state armed groups, private military companies, and drone warfare, and the rise of 'mediation crowding' by competing powers and regional blocs have weakened classical UN mediation. Debates now center on how to revitalize preventive diplomacy, integrate local peacebuilding, and reconcile justice with negotiated settlements.

Key players

Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda at Midpoint

Sustainable development was codified by the 1987 Brundtland Report and operationalized through the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, and the 2015 adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda the same year set out the financing architecture, linking domestic resource mobilization, official development assistance, and private capital to development outcomes. At the 2023 SDG Summit, the UN Secretary-General reported that only about 15 percent of SDG targets were on track, with reversals on poverty, hunger, and gender equality driven by COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, debt distress in low-income countries, and accelerating climate impacts. The annual SDG financing gap is estimated at roughly USD 4 trillion. Negotiations now turn on reform of the international financial architecture (the 'Bridgetown Agenda'), an SDG Stimulus, and the Pact for the Future, while developing states press for a UN tax convention and credible debt restructuring through the G20 Common Framework.

Key players

Global Migration Governance

International migration governance grew out of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which defined refugee status and the principle of non-refoulement, and was later complemented by the 1990 Migrant Workers Convention and the work of IOM, which became a UN-related agency in 2016. The 2016 New York Declaration produced two landmark instruments adopted in 2018: the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. Migration pressures have since intensified. UNHCR records over 120 million forcibly displaced people, the highest figure ever, driven by Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Myanmar, and Gaza. Mixed flows across the Mediterranean, the Darién Gap, and the US southern border have fueled political backlash and the externalization of border control through arrangements such as the EU-Türkiye statement, the UK-Rwanda scheme, and the Italy-Albania protocol. Debates focus on climate-induced displacement, legal pathways, search-and-rescue obligations, returns, and the tension between state sovereignty and the rights of migrants.

Key players

Restorative Justice in Transitional and Domestic Settings

Restorative justice traces its modern roots to indigenous and customary practices — Maori, First Nations, and African traditions such as gacaca — and to victim-offender mediation experiments in 1970s North America. The approach reframes crime and political violence as ruptures of relationships rather than purely as violations of state rules, prioritizing acknowledgment, accountability, reparation, and reintegration. In transitional justice contexts, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1995) became a global reference point, followed by hybrid mechanisms in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Colombia, and Tunisia. The field is now expanding but contested. The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes (2002, updated 2018) and the Council of Europe Recommendation (2018) have encouraged domestic adoption, while Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace under the 2016 Havana Accord remains the most ambitious recent experiment. Critics warn against using restorative frameworks to dilute accountability for gross human rights violations or to substitute for structural reform, particularly where ICC investigations or universal jurisdiction cases are pending. Debates center on sequencing with retributive justice, victim participation, and the role of reparations.

Key players

International Relations in a Multipolar Transition

The post-1945 international order rested on the UN Charter, the Bretton Woods institutions, and US-led alliance systems, supplemented after 1989 by a brief 'unipolar moment' and rapid globalization. That order is now visibly transitioning. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine shattered European security assumptions; US-China strategic competition has hardened across trade, technology, and Taiwan; BRICS+ expansion in 2024 signaled a coalescing non-Western bloc; and middle powers from Türkiye to Brazil to Saudi Arabia are pursuing more autonomous foreign policies. The result is a more multipolar but also more fragmented system, marked by 'minilateralism' (G7, Quad, AUKUS, BRICS+), weaponized interdependence in finance and semiconductors, and contested norms on sovereignty, intervention, and the use of force. Reform of the Security Council, the WTO dispute settlement system, and the IMF quota structure are recurring flashpoints. Peace studies scholarship increasingly asks whether the current transition resembles past great-power shifts or constitutes a qualitatively new condition shaped by climate, AI, and transnational non-state actors.

Key players

Environmental Sustainability and Planetary Boundaries

International environmental governance was launched at the 1972 Stockholm Conference, deepened at Rio in 1992 with the UNFCCC, CBD, and UNCCD, and given fresh momentum by the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. GA Resolution 76/300 (2022) recognized the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and the 2023 IPCC AR6 synthesis confirmed that limiting warming to 1.5°C requires deep, immediate, and sustained emissions cuts. Progress has been uneven. Global emissions reached record highs in 2023; six of nine planetary boundaries are assessed as transgressed; and biodiversity loss, freshwater stress, and plastic pollution continue to accelerate. COP28 produced the first explicit call to transition away from fossil fuels and operationalized the Loss and Damage Fund, but pledges remain insufficient. Negotiations now span a Global Plastics Treaty, deep-sea mining moratoria, carbon border adjustments, and the just transition. Peace studies frames these challenges as 'environmental peacebuilding,' linking resource governance to conflict prevention in the Sahel, Horn of Africa, Amazon, and small island states.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Prima Conferenza Internazionale delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Peace Studies.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Trump's Federal Election Strategy

Supreme Court VRA Ruling Empowers GOP 2026

Japan's Dilemma Over Hormuz Mine Clearance

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Italy College September 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

Prima Conferenza Internazionale delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Peace Studies

Sep 7–9, 2026Roma, ItalyIn-person

Starts in 30 daysRegistration open

Committees & topics

Topics
The Global Human Rights Regime Under Strain · Conflict Resolution in a Fragmented International Order · Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda at Midpoint · Global Migration Governance · Social Cohesion in Polarized Societies · Restorative Justice in Transitional and Domestic Settings · International Relations in a Multipolar Transition · Environmental Sustainability and Planetary Boundaries

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Italy

As the host nation, ITA provides a central European location for academic exchange on peace studies.

Role in topic

Topics & background

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

The Global Human Rights Regime Under Strain

Key players

Conflict Resolution in a Fragmented International Order

Key players

Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda at Midpoint

Key players

Global Migration Governance

Key players

Restorative Justice in Transitional and Domestic Settings

Key players

International Relations in a Multipolar Transition

Key players

Environmental Sustainability and Planetary Boundaries

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Prima Conferenza Internazionale delle Dottorande e dei Dottorandi in Peace Studies.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Trump's Federal Election Strategy

Supreme Court VRA Ruling Empowers GOP 2026

Japan's Dilemma Over Hormuz Mine Clearance

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Italy College September 2026

By committee

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

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Frequently asked questions

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

Related conferences

5th Machiavelli Defense Forum

The Mattei Plan and Global Gateway: Italy and the EU’s investment in cooperation with Africa – 3rd Edition

Diplosec 2026 – Luiss Diplomatic and Security Forum

International Conference on Legal, Security and Privacy Issues (ICLSPI) – June 22 2026

SISMUN Conclave 2026

2026 Congress – SISP: Multilateralism Contested

Frequently asked questions