Inaugural Albabtain Peacebuilding Lecture at the Centre for the Study and Practice of Conflict Resolution
The Centre for the Study and Practice of Conflict Resolution (CSPCR) hosted the first Albabtain Lecture on Peacebuilding under the auspices of HE Dr George Vella on Friday 6 May 2022 at San Anton Palace.
The lecture, which was organised as part of the Centre鈥檚 Albabtain Endowment for Peace, focused on Peace Building Through Peace Engineering and was delivered by Professor Alpaslan Ozerdem, Dean of the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University. The Carter School is the oldest and largest conflict resolution school in the USA.
Dr Omar Grech, Director of the Centre, introduced the event while HE Dr George Vella delivered a brief address where he highlighted the synergies between the Albabtain Cultural Foundation and the Centre in terms of their mandate to promote peace through various means.
In his lecture, Professor Ozerdem emphasised that the next phase of evolution in conflict resolution and peacebuilding needed to engage more profoundly with scientific developments such as big data, systems thinking and AI. He provided numerous examples of how the interfaces between peace and engineering could bring positive results.
The lecture was attended by UM Rector Professor Alfred Vella, members of the diplomatic corps, academics from UM and the Carter School as well as the Centre's students who are currently pursuing their MA in Conflict Resolution and Mediterranean Security.
