Professor Paul Arthur to deliver Inaugural John Hume Lecture
22 May 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the day the people of the Republic of Ireland and the people of Northern Ireland adopted, by way of referenda, the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, providing a new framework for relations between people within Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
To mark the anniversary, preeminent scholar and practitioner in international conflict resolution, Professor Paul Arthur, will deliver the Inaugural John Hume Lecture.
Dr. Paul Arthur is a Professor of Politics and Emeritus Director of the Graduate Program in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Ulster. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Edward M Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention, Maynooth University.
The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion exploring how the new constitutional settlement and the framework for relations voted for in 1998 can be made to work by people getting to know, respect and reconcile with their neighbours. The panel discussion will be led by former Taoiseach and key negotiator of the Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement, Bertie Ahern. Mr Ahern is also an honorary adjunct Professor of Mediation and Conflict Intervention at the Edward M Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention.
He will be joined on the panel by West Belfast Mediator, Mary Montague, who has received the Mediator of the Year Award from Mediators beyond Borders and the International Bremen Peace Award for her peacebuilding work across communities in the most contentious interfaces in Northern Ireland; and Rev. Dr Gary Mason MBE, Director of the Belfast-based Rethinking Conflict. Gary is a close advisor to Protestant ex-combatants, facilitated the decommissioning of weapons by Loyalists, and has lectured in extensively on lessons from the Irish peace process.