Conflict, humanitarian action and peacebuilding

Group Leader(s): Dr Brigitte Piquard

Contact: bpiquard@brookes.ac.uk

About us

The research group on conflict, humanitarian action and peacebuilding is at the interface between humanitarian action, peace and development. This includes:

  • the links between conflict sensitivity and conflict transformation
  • the introduction of transformative resilience within humanitarian programming 
  • the mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues (such as culture, gender, displacement, environment) into the nexus, particularly in protracted conflicts and post-conflict settings.

Following the Agenda for Humanity and particularly the fourth pillar on ‘working differently to end needs’, the group investigates the localisation of aid and the ‘local turn’ in peacebuilding, in order to rethink the role of local actors (NGOs, communities, youth and women groups, authorities) in crisis-response. 

With an action oriented approach, the group works closely with local organisations and academics in different conflict contexts. 

Wall of the Victim Memorial in Trujillo, Colombia

Research impact

Engaging with Syrian refugees in Lebanon

The group works on broadening localisation of knowledge and capacity building with local and national organisations, community and youth groups, using research as an empowerment strategy.

Together with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the group created an online Masters Degree in Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding exploring the challenges and common grounds between humanitarian action and peacebuilding. This online Masters is work and practice based and fosters mutual learning within a community of practice on the web, merging the wealth of experiences and knowledge of learners, practitioners and academics globally. 

Leadership

Brigitte Piquard

Dr Brigitte Piquard

Reader in Humanitarianism and Conflict

View profile

Membership

Students

Name Thesis Title Supervisors Completed
Sherin Al shaikhahmed Leadership of youth with disabilities in the context of Humanitarian-Development Nexus Professor Cathrine Brun, Dr Supriya Akerkar

Active

Fatima Hashmi Understanding forms and processes of stigmatisation and populations’ responses: A multi-site case study of ethnic minority groups in Pakistan and Colombia. Dr Brigitte Piquard, Professor Cathrine Brun

Active

Grace Khawams Assessing job readiness among Lebanese and Palestinian refugee youth with intellectual disabilities in Lebanon: An Action Research Framework Professor Cathrine Brun, Dr Supriya Akerkar

Active

Kate McAuliff Deaf Refugees in Jordan and Lebanon: a conceptual framework of agency and double displacement Professor Cathrine Brun, Dr Supriya Akerkar

Active

Aleyda Valdes Displacement due to gang violence in Latin America Dr Brigitte Piquard, Professor Cathrine Brun

Active

Projects

Active projects

Project title and description Investigator(s) Funder(s) Dates

Upskilling for future generations (GEN-UP)

A collaborative youth-led project investigating the links between vocational training, gender and decent work in Cameroon and Sierra Leone. It runs in partnership with the Don Bosco network, UCAC University in Cameroon and Njala University in Sierra Leone.
Dr Brigitte Piquard, Dr Ross Wignall British Academy From: March 2020
Until: February 2022

Education to Employment

“From Education to Employment. Young people’s trajectories in the context of protracted displacement in Jordan and Lebanon”, a research programme in close collaboration with the Centre for Lebanese Studies, funded by the UK Research Council (ESRC/Global Challenges Research Fund) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Professor Cathrine Brun, Dr Maha Shuayb ESRC, GCRF, CLS From: December 2018
Until: October 2021

Building Sumud

An action-research initiative focusing on the occupation of space and on acts of resilience adopted by Old City Hebronites in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Dr Brigitte Piquard From: September 2011

Observatory of Symbolic Violence

Created to support organisations working mainly with displaced and marginalised populations in the West Bank and in the coffee production regions of the Valle del Cauca and Afro-descendants of the Pacific and Caribbean coastal areas of Colombia. Through a participatory process of action research and learning, the project aims to interact with the impacts of stigma and the peoples’ modes of resilience. It runs in partnership with CERAR France.
Dr Brigitte Piquard From: September 2014

Latest Book Release

Working with Conflict 2, Skills and Strategies for Action

This book focuses on:

  • understanding and transforming conflict
  • building practical strategies for constructive change
  • analysing power
  • addressing violence
  • healing wounds
  • building movements for change.

It is relevant to all who are working in and on intractable situations, from grassroots to policy level, including the fields of peacebuilding, development, climate change, human rights, gender equality and trauma healing.