Rotary International District 1090 Oxford Peace Conference at The Said Business School of the University of Oxford

Peace comes to the South

The Oxford Peace Conference was the first of its kind in the South of England and was aimed at Rotarians and others outside Rotary who may be unaware of what the Rotary Foundation does for world peace and conflict resolution through its Peace Scholarship Programme.

There were eminent speakers including Professor Paul Rogers of the University of Bradford and Alan Hollands the Chairman of the RIBI Rotary Foundation Committee. We also had Dr Scilla Elworthy of Peace Direct plus two Rotary Peace Scholars now working in the field of Conflict Resolution.

We are indebted to the University of Oxford for the use of the Nelson Mandela Lecture Room and for the other facilities of the Said Business School.

Pre-Conference Dinner

A Pre-Conference Dinner at Oriel College featured Tony Baldry MP as Speaker.

Guests:

Jim Moulson, the Vice President Elect of the RIBI, accepted an invitation to attend the Conference and Espen Malmberg (Fellowships Supervisor) attended as a representative of the Rotary Foundation at Evanston.

Councillor Susanna Pressel, the Lord Mayor of Oxford, accepted an invitation to attend the Pre-Conference dinner at Oriel College.

Speaker Profiles

Professor Sir Adam Roberts

Professor Sir Adam Roberts, KCMG, FBA, is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University and an Emeritus Fellow of Ballioll College, Oxford. His main Academic interests are in the fields of international security, international organisations, and international law (including the laws of war). He has worked extensively on the role of civil resistance against dictatorial regimes and foreign rule.

He is a Member of the Council, International Institute for Strategic Studies and is a Member of the UK Defence Academy Advisory Board. In 2002 he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG).

Paul Rogers

Paul is Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University where he teaches courses on international security, arms control and political violence. He trained originally as a biologist and lectured at Imperial College, London as well as working as a Senior Scientific Officer on a development programme in East Africa. He lectures regularly at universities and defence colleges in several countries and is a frequent broadcaster on international security issues for the BBC World Service. Paul is international security consultant to the Oxford Research Group and also writes a weekly analysis of international security issues for the Open Democracy web journal www.opendemocracy.net

Dr Scilla Elworthy

Dr Scilla Elworthy founded the Oxford Research Group in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. In 2003 she founded Peace Direct which funds and promotes peace-builders in conflict areas all over the world. Since 2005 she has been an advisor to The Elders initiative and in 2007 was appointed a member of the World Future council and also the International Task Force on Preventative Diplomacy. Scilla has been nominated 3 times for the Nobel Peace Prize and was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003.

Alan Hollands

Alan is Chairman of the RIBI Foundation Committee and also Regional Rotary Foundation coordinator for Zone 18. A Rotarian since 1984, he was District Governor of District 1110 for 2003/4. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Ringwood. He is a former head teacher and Director of the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative of the Hampshire County Council.

Tony Baldry MP

Tony Baldry is Member of Parliament for Banbury. He was a minister under Margaret Thatcher and throughout the whole of John Major’s government, including time at the Foreign Office where he had responsibility in the House of Commons for matters relating to Overseas Development and Africa. Tony chaired the Commons Select Committee on International Development in the 2001/5 Parliament. He is a member of the Council of Chatham House and a member of the Council of the Overseas Development Institute and a trustee of several NGOs and charities working on Development issues.

Peace Fellows Alumni

Francesca del Mese

Francesca was called to the Bar in 1998 and was the first British woman to win a Rotary World Peace Scholarship in 2003 studying International Relations and Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland, Australia. Whilst in Australia Francesca twice went to East Timur to conduct extensive research on transitional justice looking at the Truth Commission and spending time in the UN Serious Crimes Unit in Dili. Before she finished her Masters she was offered a position as defence counsel in the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone working under Ken Flemming QC who had been the senior prosecutor for the UN court in Rwanda.

Francesca then worked for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague as a prosecution lawyer in a trial concerning serious violations of the Geneva Convention and in 2007 returned to the UK to work for the Home Office.

In October 2007 separate to her employment she travelled with Baroness Cox to Northern Uganda in an advisory capacity looking at the justice and welfare situation in the region. She interviewed many child soldiers and massacre victims and compiled a report for the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust.

Her interest is in post-conflict transitional justice mechanisms and in mediation as an effective tool in peace building.

Ryan Gawn

Ryan is International External Relations Coordinator with Save the Children UK. With a background in political consultancy, he currently works on international advocacy issues in development, humanitarian affairs and conflict and security.

He has also undertaken various assignments with the Scottish Parliament, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, European Parliament and also worked as Associate Consultant for a Northern Irish public affairs consultancy. In 2005 he worked on the UN reform proposal ‘In Larger Freedom’ in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

As a Rotary World Peace Fellow, Ryan completed a Masters in International Relations in Buenos Aires. He has written for a variety of publications and spoken in academic conferences throughout Asia, the Americas and Europe on the Northern Irish conflict, transitional justice, foreign affairs and UN reform. He is a member of Chatham House U35s Steering Committee and the United Nations Association Westminster Executive Committee.

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