Suffolk University to Partner with Beyond Conflict

Beyond Conflict helped facilitate the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. It has conducted groundbreaking research and analysis on the political polarization and the social division that erodes democracy in the United States, and charted courses towards peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, Central America, Cuba, and other divided societies. The organization has been a leader in catalyzing the field of transitional justice and pioneering research and programming at the intersection of brain and behavioral science and social conflict.   

Through the new strategic partnership, Suffolk University students, faculty, and staff, along with broader communities in Boston and beyond, will gain access to Beyond Conflict’s deep well of expertise in conflict transformation and brain and behavioral science-informed approaches to social change, which furthers the University’s demonstrated commitment to inclusive community-building and its extensive history of fostering the next generation of civic leaders.  

“Beyond Conflict has been a leader in helping to shape the field of conflict resolution, and particularly in curating conversations with people who sit across great divides,” said Marisa Kelly, president of Suffolk University. “This partnership will allow us to further engage our students in this critically important work of talking across differences and help advance our broader civic engagement goals. I am excited about the possibilities.” 

Beyond Conflict is a Boston-based organization with long ties to Suffolk University, including prior collaborations on research and programming, and the facilitation of undergraduate courses. Founder Tim Phillips is an alumnus of Suffolk and received an honorary doctorate in 2018. He has guided Beyond Conflict since its founding in 1992, helping generate peace agreements and reconciliation processes in contexts as diverse as Northern Ireland, El Salvador, Kosovo, and South Africa. Since 2010, he has led efforts to catalyze the field of brain and behavioral science and social conflict in partnership with universities and research labs around the world.  

Praise for Beyond Conflict

“Working with Tim Phillips in Beyond Conflict for over three decades has shown me the wide range of skills that are needed before, during, and after peace deals are made,” said Monica McWilliams, a Northern Irish peace activist, human rights defender, and former politician. Co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition political party, she served as a delegate to the multi-party peace talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 that ended most of the violence and ethnic and national conflict in Northern Ireland. “As the political parties involved in the Good Friday Agreement, we can testify to how much we benefited from Beyond Conflict. Building relationships between opponents was as important as the substantive issues on the peace table.” 

“Beyond Conflict plays an indispensable role in bridging global experts in the brain and behavioral sciences with leading conflict resolution practitioners, policy makers, and community members—putting the science to work in communities where peace is most needed,” said Michael Pasek, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago and an expert on the psychology of intergroup conflict. “In a world that is so deeply divided, we can count on Beyond Conflict to break down silos and foster the type of bold cross-sectoral thinking that peacebuilding efforts require.”