The Conflict and Peace Processes Research Group (CoPP)

The Conflict and Peace Processes Research Group (CoPP)brings together scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, theoretical persuasions, and methodological approaches with a shared interest in studying the origins, nature, dynamics, and impact of violent conflict and peace processes around the globe.

Our engagement with conflict and peace processes are both academic and practical, and we advance scholarly knowledge and understanding and actively contribute to public debates and policy discussions on and in a variety of conflict-affected contexts, including with regard to the structure and psychology of negotiations and mediation processes, constitutional design, institutional reform, the accommodation of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, and the sequencing and resourcing of war-to-peace transitions.

Contact us

Dr Giuditta Fontana: g.fontana@bham.ac.uk

Projects

Unravelling Variations in Local Reception of International Peace Missions. For more information, please contact Dr Babatunde Obamamoye.
The Xrisis Room: A Virtual Reality Experience. For more information, please contact Dr Martin Waehlisch.

The Politics of Expertise in Crisis and Conflict Settings. For more information, please contact Dr Vera Axyonova.
Leadership, liminality, and ‘wicked’ conflicts: John Hume and the untangling of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’. For more information, please contact Prof Joanne Murphy.
Atmospheres of (counter)terrorism in European cities. For more information, please contact Dr Sara Fregonese.

Mapping mental health resources for young people in the Colombian Pacific region. For more information, please contact Prof Paul Jackson.

Separatist conflict: Lessons for security in Europe and beyond (ESRC Impact Acceleration Account). For more information, please contact Dr George Kyris and Dr Nicholas Barker.
The Political Economy of Cultural Institutions in Conflict-Affected Societies. For more information, please contact Dr Giuditta Fontana
Management and War: How Organisations Navigate Conflict and Build Peace. For more information, please contact Prof Joanne Murphy.
The Politics of Memory and Identity in China. For more information, please contact Dr Yi Wang.
International Responses to Coups (1946-2021). For more information, please contact Dr Mwita Chacha.
Learning from Failure: Tackling war recurrence in protracted peace processes (United States Institute for Peace). For more information, please contact Dr Giuditta Fontana or Prof Stefan Wolff.
The Political Economy of Power-Sharing in Post-Conflict Situations
(German Research Foundation). For more information, please contact Dr Martin Ottman
The European Union and Contested States: Conflict, Statehood and Sovereignty in World Politics. For more information, please contact Dr George Kyris
Identifying Coup leadership. For more information, please contact Dr Mwita Chacha.
The contentious politics of the census in consociational democracies. For more information, please contact Dr Laurence Cooley.
From Elite Bargains to (More) Open and (More) Inclusive Politics. For more information, please contact Dr Alina Rocha Menocal.
Education in Peace Accords 1989-2016. For more information, please contact Dr Giuditta Fontana.

Public and Policy Engagement

Joanne Murphy. Leadership in conflict: Insights from Northern Ireland Podcast for Practical wisdom for Leaders. March 2025.
Giuditta Fontana. Women Negotiating Peace Podcast for Gender Action for Peace and Security. January 2025
Giuditta Fontana and Stefan Wolff. Roundtable on Promoting Inclusive Peace, House of Lords, November 2024.
Giuditta Fontana and Stefan Wolff. Key Takeaways from the ‘Learning from Failure: How to Prevent Civil War Recurrence’ roundtable Foreign Policy Centre, November 2024.
Giuditta Fontana Education in Worldwide Political Agreements: A Missed Opportunity for Peacebuilding? Voices in Education, September 2023,
CoPP Knowledge Exchange with International Practitioners, Zoom, September 2023.
PSRG (now CoPP) Extended Policy Challenge with Foreign and Commonwealth Office and House Select Committees, Birmingham, March 2023.
Mwita Chacha: A new coup era for Africa? (Conflict Trends) Also featured in Independent Online.
Mwita Chacha: The scourge of popular coups in Africa (Democracy in Africa) Also featured in The Continent.
A. Kartsonaki, G. Fontana, and S. Wolff Mechanisms for Dialogue: A Means to Prevent Civil War Recurrence United States Institute of Peace, November 2022.
Alina Rocha Menocal: From elite bargains to more inclusive politics? Lessons and implications from existing research (ODI)

Alina Rocha Menocal: Fragility Forum 2022
Stefan Wolff: The Conversation
Stefan Wolff: Options for dealing with Russia in the OSCE
Stefan Wolff: The OSCE’s Afghanistan Challenge (The Foreign Policy Centre)
Stefan Wolff: Could China be a partner for the West in managing the Ukraine crisis? (The Foreign Policy Centre)
Stefan Wolff: The Russian Threat against Ukraine: A Long History and an Uncertain Future (Wilson Center)
Stefan Wolff: The First Days of War (Wilson Center)
Stefan Wolff: Conflict-Solving Mechanisms and Negotiation Formats for Post-Soviet Protracted Conflicts: A Comparative Perspective (SCEEUS report)

The Conflict and Peace Processes Research Group (CoPP)

Contact us

Projects

Public and Policy Engagement

Current Members