Key Centre Priorities
Collaborative research:
CPIU drives collaborative, cross-regional research that examines mediation, post-conflict reconstruction, sustaining peace, conflict and crisis prevention, polarisation and social cohesion, and intercultural and emerging power thinking and practice in these areas. The Centre places particular emphasis on the comparative and complementary experiences of Qatar and South Africa. The research outputs target both academic and policy audiences and are disseminated in Arabic, English, and other relevant languages to ensure accessibility and global reach.
Intercultural knowledge sharing and dialogue:
The Centre hosts scholar-practitioner dialogues, academic workshops, and public seminars to explore Qatari, South African, and emerging power approaches within our thematic areas outlined below. These dialogues foster a deeper understanding of each nation’s history, social fabric, and peacebuilding strategies, while building inclusive platforms for mutual learning and solidarity.
Academic scholarship and exchange programs:
Through faculty and student exchanges, study abroad opportunities, and collaborative virtual learning, CPIU creates immersive educational experiences that strengthen cross-cultural competencies-giving special attention to students from countries affected by conflict and fragility. The Centre supports the development and enhancement of academic programs and offers short courses and certification programs in its core areas of work, helping to shape a new generation of peacemakers.
Training, dialogue and peace process support:
CPIU actively convenes scholar, policy, and practitioner dialogues to share timely research and inform peace practice. It partners with national, regional, and international institutions, as well as civil society, to offer specialized training and capacity development for government actors, civil society leaders, and academic institutions across the Global South.
Youth engagement and education in peacebuilding:
The Centre implements youth-focused initiatives, including peace education workshops, intercultural dialogues, and leadership programs. These efforts promote a culture of peace and deepen intercultural understanding among younger generations, aligning with UJ’s social impact mandate and broader efforts to support inclusive, participatory peacebuilding.
Key Thematic Areas
The Centre’s work is anchored in South African (and broader African) and Qatari (and wider Gulf, Middle Eastern) experiences and expertise, focusing on two core areas and cross-cutting themes:
Emerging powers in mediation and sustaining peace: This theme explores how Qatar, South Africa, and other emerging powers are shaping new approaches to mediation and global diplomacy. It examines their roles as convenors, donors, and credible mediators—particularly in Africa and the Middle East—and assesses how these actors contribute to and can better drive post-conflict reconstruction, inclusive development, resilient social contracts, and conflict and crisis prevention. The work also reflects critically on how emerging powers are reshaping multilateral institutions and the global peace and security architecture.
Intercultural perspectives on peace, justice, and reconciliation: CPIU engages with Qatari, South African, African, and Middle Eastern traditions to explore contextually grounded understandings of peace, justice, and reconciliation. Drawing on diverse experiences, the Centre considers pathways to address historical and structural legacies of conflict and injustice and their contemporary manifestations, as well as efforts to foster cohesion in the face of division and polarisation. Special attention is given to intercultural approaches that strengthen inclusion and promote more unified, socially cohesive societies.
Cross-cutting themes include:
Polycrisis and conflict complexity
Understanding how intersecting political, economic, environmental, and humanitarian crises intensify fragility, and advancing integrated responses across sectors.
Inclusion and women’s advancement
Supporting efforts to incorporate climate mitigation and adaptation into peace agreements and social compacts, and promoting conflict- and context-sensitive climate action, including Just Transition strategies, in fragile and post-conflict settings.
Digital technology, media, misinformation, polarisation
Investigating the roles of digital technologies as both threats to and tools for peace, including the spread of disinformation and polarisation, and leveraging innovations like AI, digital mediation platforms, and peacetech to support inclusive processes and humanitarian efforts.
Global frameworks and southern contributions
Critically engaging with the design, implementation, and localisation of global frameworks such as the SDGs and the UN Pact for the Future, and highlighting Southern contributions to peace and development agendas in multilateral settings.