Otago establishes National Centre for Peace Studies

A National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies is to be established at the University of Otago, thanks to the vision of four prominent New Zealanders. The Centre will be officially launched by the Prime Minister in Auckland this evening.

Retired University of Auckland senior lecturer in English and ESOL teacher trainer Dorothy Brown, active Anglican Church member and retired businessman Chris Barfoot, former dean of law at the University of Waikato and Human Rights Commissioner Professor Margaret Bedggood and prominent Moriori advocate and lawyer Maui Solomon recognised a common vision and formed the Aotearoa New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust in 2005. At around this time, the Trust began working with the Hokotehi Moriori Trust, which had a vision of establishing a Centre for Peace Studies on Rekohu (Chatham Islands), based around their ancestors' 500-year covenant of peace.

The Trust has gifted $1.25m to the University of Otago so that a research centre for peace and conflict studies can be set up in New Zealand. The gift is being made through the University's Leading Thinkers Initiative and will be matched by the Government under the Partnerships for Excellence scheme – lifting the total to $2.5m.

The Centre will be dedicated to reflection on the nature of conflict, its resolution and the creation of peaceful environments. It will bring together academics, students and visitors from a wide range of disciplines, with one of its key aims being the full and effective involvement of indigenous peoples. The Centre will work to enhance individual and collective capacities to understand and manage disputes, work against violence, and build sustainable peace at local, national and international levels.

Trust member Chris Barfoot says the world urgently needs an alternative to war as a means of solving international tension. "It is good that the best minds in the country will focus on this issue to help us as a nation to show a new way forward.

"The endowment of the professorship is just the beginning. The University and the Trust are committed to expansion of the Centre and for this purpose will be seeking significant donations for the endowment of further research and teaching positions."

University Vice-Chancellor Professor David Skegg says New Zealand is recognised internationally for the quality of the dialogue between Maori and Pakeha, for its nuclear-free commitment and for its peace-keeping role in the Pacific and elsewhere.

"New Zealand and New Zealanders will increasingly be called upon to extend our existing conflict resolution capacity and play a prominent peace role in the region and beyond. It is also important that this centre will fully acknowledge indigenous traditions of peace associated with Moriori on the Chatham Islands, Parihaka in Taranaki and Waitaha in the South Island."

"We see the reality of civil conflict on our own Pacific doorstep, in the breakdown of government and civil society in some South Pacific Island states. This Centre will undertake research, teach and play an active part in resolving conflict through advice, seminars, conferences and outreach programmes."

The Centre will be based at the Dunedin campus, but be national in its focus, with a significant presence in Auckland. It will initially consist of a Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, several associates drawn from academic departments and an international advisory board made up of experts in the field. The Centre will provide advanced-level short courses and training for government and non-government organisations engaged in peace-keeping, peace-building, development activities, humanitarian intervention and work in conflict situations.

The $1.25m donation will be formally announced at a function today (26 October) at 7.30pm in the University of Otago's Auckland Centre, 385 Queen Street. Media are welcome to attend.