Since 2019, the Normandy Chair for Peace, supported by the Normandy Region, has embodied the ambition of the Normandy for Peace initiative: to make the region a centre committed to research, training and dialogue with civil society on peace-related issues. It thus contributes to the development of peace studies and the training of high-calibre researchers.
The Normandy Chairs of Excellence for Peace
Led by the University of Caen Normandy, in partnership with the Normandy Region and the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace, the second edition of the Normandy Chair for Peace, entitled ‘Law, History and Neuroscience for Lasting Peace’, has now been accredited by UNESCO.
It is a proud part of the global UNESCO Chairs programme, which aims to create centres of academic excellence to promote peace, human rights and intercultural dialogue.
A unique scientific synergy in the service of peace
The programme is resolutely multidisciplinary, bringing together research in law (public, private, history of law and political science), history and neuropsychology.
This synergy provides a better understanding of how policies on remembrance are shaped, how victims are supported, the issues surrounding justice and, ultimately, the conditions for lasting peace.
The Chair’s Objectives
The Chair aims to promote an integrated system of research, teaching, training and communication. It pursues four main objectives:
1. Analysing the conditions for and maintenance of peace: Examining conflict prevention in relation to victim support and issues of justice, drawing on research into individual and collective memory, whilst focusing in particular on the role of current generations.
2. Developing research and international mobility: Promoting interdisciplinary research at the University of Caen Normandy and with partner universities around the world (notably in Armenia, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritania and Senegal). The programme encourages reciprocal mobility among academic staff, early-career researchers and students, thereby fostering international North-South and South-South dialogue.
3. Educating and raising awareness of human rights: To contribute actively to education on the safeguards of human rights and to provide the essential tools for understanding needed to build and sustain a culture of peace.
4. Contributing to global ethical discourse: To participate fully in UNESCO’s mandates and priorities, particularly on issues of neuroethics (in connection with the draft recommendation on ethical principles relating to neurotechnologies) and on combating discrimination in education (1960 Convention). This project is directly aligned with the UN’s SDG 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions).
Strong regional and partnership-based roots
The Chair forms part of Normandy’s ecosystem of excellence in the field of peace and human rights studies. By drawing on recognised researchers, institutions and expertise within the region, it promotes Normandy’s expertise and enhances the region’s reputation as a leading centre for these issues. This initiative is underpinned by close collaboration between three major Normandy-based organisations:
• The University of Caen Normandy, the Chair’s host institution, which provides a centre of academic excellence for researchers and PhD students.
• The Normandy Region, as part of its overarching ‘Normandy for Peace’ initiative.
• The International Institute for Human Rights and Peace, which places the promotion and protection of human rights at the heart of its work.
>> Accéder au site de la Chaire Mémoire et Avenir de la Paix, Droit, Histoire et Neurosciences pour une paix durable
This first Normandy Chair for Peace was officially launched during the second edition of the Normandy World Forum for Peace on 5 June 2019, in the presence of Pierre Denise, President of the University of Caen, Antoine Petit, President of the CNRS, and Hervé Morin, President of the Normandy Region.
Its aim was to bring together international researchers, to advance knowledge on the themes explored at the annual World Forum, and thereby to ensure the long-term sustainability of the initiative launched by the Forum.
The first Normandy Chair of Excellence for Peace focused on issues relating to the rights of future generations, particularly in the context of climate change. Indeed, the law that underpins our current societies is geared towards present generations, but we need to establish a legal framework that safeguards the future in order to defend the rights of future generations by creating a legal framework that brings together three areas of intervention: international law, environmental law and comparative law. These have formed the core of the Chair’s work, with a view to protecting the environment, the human condition, humanity and Nature itself.
The Normandy Region funds the Normandy Chair for Peace through the RIN Research programme.