PhD Candidate Co-Chairs EU CSDP Workshop in Moldova

Monday, June 8, 2015 - 15:30

On 4 June 2014, Gene Carolan, a PhD candidate at Maynooth University Department of Law, co-chaired a workshop on Conflict Analysis with Sean McGearty of Consensus Resarch as part of the Edward M Kennedy Institute’s contribution to an EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Orientation Conference in Chisinau, Moldova. The conference was a part of the EU’s Eastern Partnership, a joint initiative of the EU and its Eastern European partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The partnership attempts to foster closer links and encourage reforms within those nations on Europe’s eastern periphery. The week-long conference was hosted by the governments of Austria and Moldova, and representatives from the European External Action Service and the European Security and Defence College.

As the Irish representative on the academic board of the European Security and Defence College, the Kennedy Institute provides specialist training to civil and military personnel engaged with the EU’s CSDP. As such, the Conflict Analysis workshop engaged around 70 participants from a wide range of backgrounds, representing all six Eastern Partnership countries and close to all EU member states. Participants were provided with a brief overview of conflict analysis methodologies, and an interactive element that saw them ‘map’ a conflict scenario in Afghanistan.

Gene’s ongoing doctoral research on peace agreements and international law overlaps with the Kennedy Institute’s mission to identify constructive approaches to conflict. He was thus able to present on basic models of conflict analysis during the workshop and discuss how they relate to aspects of his thesis.