Unified Paths for Peace: Empowering Collaborative Peacebuilding

The Notre Dame Student Peace Conference is an annual student academic event organized by undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame as a space to engage in academic and professional dialogue on important issues of peacebuilding, justice, and conflict transformation. For more information, visit sites.nd.edu/peacecon.

The 2025 Notre Dame Student Peace Conference planning committee has chosed Unified Paths for Peace: Empowering Collaborative Peacebuilding as this year's theme.

What makes someone a peacebuilder? Who does the important work of peacebuilding, and who benefits from that work? How might everyone incorporate peacebuilding into their work, regardless of field or discipline? How do various fields of study and practice intersect to construct a more peaceful world, and how can we promote that collaboration?

As we confront the structures of conflict, polarization, and oppression that exist around us, unified collaboration in peacebuilding becomes more imperative. Creating a sustainable and peaceful world requires us to center peacebuilding in everything we do—every discussion, every job, every relationship, and more—such that it becomes a foundational part of our shared existence. The goal of peace, then, becomes the common thread that unifies our work for and with one another.

As peace studies scholars, we strive to build a peacebuilding framework that is inclusive of all disciplines and that empowers those who have not historically seen themselves as peacebuilders to reimagine their contributions to a more just world. We illuminate how peace studies can inform other fields of study and practice through its deeper exploration of the root causes of conflict and pathways for conflict transformation. We explore how business practices, land management, legal systems, or the new reality of AI, for example, will shape our peacebuilding future. We understand that a collaboration of diverse voices and approaches will inspire new and creative paths forward.

This year’s conference will explore how collaboration across scholarly disciplines and areas of practice not only broadens and enriches the field of peace studies but also serves to unify us behind a common goal. By focusing on creative cross-disciplinary approaches, we aim to empower students, institutions, and disciplines to identify collaborative opportunities that together weave a strong and sustainable pathway to a just and peaceful world.

Our conference is intended as a forum where students can join in discussion with those who share their personal passion or academic interest in peacebuilding, social justice, and conflict transformation.

Interested students from any college or university around the world are invited to attend, even if not presenting. Thanks to the generous sponshorship of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the conference is free, but registration is required.

Transportation, lodging, and travel documents are the responsibility of each attendee. We encourage students to explore the funding options available at their own institutions to help with any remaining costs. For information about visiting the University of Notre Dame and the City of South Bend, please see our hotel and travel pages.

Host or Publisher Notre Dame Student Peace Conference