Our Partners

The CRP was an international consortium of researchers and academics working in partnership to deliver findings from across a wide range of research sites. Details of the core partners can be found below.

a multi-disciplinary team of world-leading researchers

World Peace Foundation, Tufts University

CRP Research Director, Prof Alex de Waal, is also Director of the World Peace Foundation (WPF), based since 2011 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy within Tufts Unversity. 

The WPF seeks to be a node of intellectual leadership on issues of peacebuilding, basing its work on both rigorous evidence-based research and academic theory. The WPF supports the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel in its work on the Horn of Africa and this provided a conduit for CRP research in that region. Through its links with the Feinstein International Center, the WPF took a lead on issues of displacement and humanitarian action in Somalia and Prof de Waal held executive oversight of CRP research in Somalia, South Sudan and the wider region.

Conflict Research Group, Ghent University

CRP work in eastern DRCongo was led by Prof Koen Vlassenroot and his team at the Conflict Research Group, University of Ghent. The Group was founded in 2002 as an independent unit within the faculty of Social and Political Science and its work is focused on the links between local and global dimensions of conflict and its impact on local societies, with particular reference to the Great Lakes region of Africa. 

Prof Vlassenroot worked with an experienced  Congolese team hosted by the 'Groups d'Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine' based at the Institut Supérieur de Pédagogie in Bukavu who are undertaking research in eastern DRC and the borders with South Sudan and Uganda. The team in Ghent worked closely with Dr Carayannis at SSRC to explore comparative issues and facilitate joint events in DRC.

Institute of Regional and International Studies, American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

IRIS is an independent research centre housed at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) and directed by Christine van den Toorn. The institute has access to a wealth of local experience from the student body, faculty and research teams and has conducted fieldwork across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and its disputed territories.

The CRP's work with IRIS was facilitated through the LSE Middle East Centre under the direction of Prof Toby Dodge.

Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies

Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies is an independent, nonprofit think tank based in Baghdad, Iraq. Its primary mission is to offer an authentic perspective on public and foreign policy issues related to Iraq and the region.

Local Administration Councils Unit

The Local Administration Councils Unit (LACU) is a Syrian NGO which aims to promote the concepts of good governance and democratic practices by focussing on the issues of free and fair elections, decentralisation, equal citizenship, womens empowerment and constitutional and public policy reforms. LACU operates through a wide network of key experts and researchers distributed throughout Syria's provinces, in addition to several Syrian and international consultants abroad. 

Al-Amal Association 

Al-Amal Association is Iraq’s foremost women’s rights organisation. Since its foundation in 1992, it has been at the forefront of campaigns for enhancing women’s rights and has pushed the Iraqi government and national actors to deliver on women’s rights and to end discrimination against them.

Iraqi Women Network

Iraqi Women Network is a non-political, non-partisan umbrella network of Iraqi women’s rights NGOs. It works to build democracy, law enforcement and human rights and to eliminate violence and all forms of discrimination against women in Iraq.

Public Aid Organisation

Public Aid Organisation is an Iraqi women’s rights organisation and forms part of the Iraqi Women Network.

 

Former Partners

Arab Studies Institute - Research and Education Methodologies

The CRP-Syria team worked with the to Arab Studies Institute – Research and Education Methodologies (ASI-REM) which is based in Beirut, Lebanon.

However, due to the economic crisis in Lebanon, the CRP will no longer be able to work with ASI-REM.

Peace Direct

Peace Direct is a London-based organisation that works at grassroots level to support local initiatives in the developing world, aimed at preventing, resolving and healing conflicts. Their goal is to find ways to break cycles of violence and achieve lasting solutions by providing advice and support for local programmes and by bringing them to the attention of international actors. 

Whilst Peace Direct has played an active role in convening and mobilising local conversations (through its Peace Exchange model) to help inform the CRP research on Somalia, the LSE and Peace Direct have agreed to end their contract due to changing requirements within the CRP. 

Social Science Research Council

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) was founded in 1923 with a mandate to reach out across disciplinary and institutional boundaries and bring the best social science researchers together to address problems of public concern.

The CRP was working with Dr Tatiana Carayannis who leads the 'Understanding Violent Conflict' programme at SSRC as well as the 'Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum'. Dr Carayannis co-led the CRP research in the DR Congo.

The SSRC also managed and administered the CRP Fellowship programme for the 2018 cohort.