Concerning Conflict, War and Peace: 25 Years of Conflict Studies at Utrecht University

Next week, Conflict Studies at Utrecht University will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a special conference on February 13th and 14th. The event will explore the changing character of war, conflict, and peace and the implications for the field of Conflict Studies. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s military actions in Gaza show that war and state-driven violence against civilians remain central to our contemporary world. Different panels will address key questions such as what insights the field has uncovered and what directions it should take moving forward.

The conference will feature interdisciplinary panels and discussions with leading experts from related fields. Dr. Lauren Gould will co-host Panel 1 with Lennart Bolliger on Tracing and Contesting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex. This session will explore how modern wars are reshaping the military-industrial-academic complex. Topics include the role of AI-enhanced systems and big tech companies in supporting military operations, as well as universities’ contributions to military knowledge and ideologies. Together with RAW researcher Marijn Hoijtink, RAW affiliate researcher Neil Renic, and dr. Antoine Bousquet, the panel will examine whether these changes call for a rethinking of war studies as a discipline.

Furthermore, Gould will co-host Panel 6 on Ecocide and Civilian Harm, together with Thijs Jeursen. This panel looks into the concept of ecocide, the destruction of ecosystems caused by war, and its impact on civilian harm. Panelists, including Prof. Dr. Victoria Basham, dr. Mark Griffiths, Zsuzsanna Ihar, and Esther Marijnen will present empirical cases of ecocide and reflect on how these perspectives can deepen our understanding of war’s impacts.

The conference will close on February 14th with a public keynote by Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. She will speak about her mandate, the war in Gaza, and the state of human rights in the Palestinian territories. To attend her lecture, you can register here.

This is a glimpse of the conference program. For the full schedule, click here.

Please note that registration for the conference is now closed.

Photo by Pixabay

Dr. Lauren Gould is Assistant Professor in Conflict Studies and the principle investigator and project leader of Intimacies of Remote Warfare programme. Gould’s research projects study how the US has spearheaded this form of military engagement, but also how many other advanced militaries are following suit. Gould’s research projects trace how remote warfare is legitimized, what military alliances are forged, what technologies are used and how these actors and technologies interact and have an impact on civilian harm. From a conflict and critical security studies perspective her aim is to conceptualise the changing character of war in the 21st century. Gould has conducted fieldwork in Uganda, South Sudan and in Iraq in collaboration with NGO PAX for Peace. She has also conducted fieldwork closer to home, including the Netherlands, UK and Belgium. Gould is a Utrecht University (UU) Public Engagement fellow, a core member of the Centre for Global Challenges and the IOS Contesting Governance platform, and sits on the board of the Nuhanovic Foundation. In 2019-2020 she participated in the UU Westerdijk Programme for talented female scholars. She is a lecturer at the Centre for Conflict Studies and the coordinator of the minor Conflict Studies. She is the founder and coordinator of the UU Summer School ‘Contemporary Conflict Analysis: Actors, Issues & Technologies of 21st Century Warfare’, designed for practioners and (international) students.

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