How to stay afloat as a peace worker: a personal reflection

In his 1926 Award Ceremony speech, Nobel Peace Laureate Fridtjof Nansen said “No more war”. One hundred years later, what can we say? Fresh from school Steinar Bryn attended Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, a college rooted in the social sciences and humanistic principles advocated by Nansen. Inspired, he returned there as lecturer and researcher, and in 1995 was appointed Head of the new Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue, grounded in the same values. He has worked in areas of conflict in many parts of the world.

Steinar offers his unique personal reflections and insights into his work and motivation in our changing world. What are the possibilities and limitations of dialogue? Are we having the right conversations? And how does he keep motivated witnessing first-hand the long term destructive impacts of war?

Steinar Bryn has a PH.D in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. He has been a teacher, director and researcher at the Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, and head of Dialogue at the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue for the last 30 years. He is a well-known peace activist in Norway and has years of experience as a dialogue worker in the Balkans, Ukraine and the Middle East. He has been nominated 7 times for the Nobel Peace Prize and received the Norwegian King’s Medal for Humanistic Service in 2024.

This event is hosted by Cambridge Quakers. To find out more about Quakers visit: quaker.org.uk/about-quakers