09:00 – 09:30
Arrival (a light breakfast will be served)

Marble Hall & Gallery

09:30 – 10:45
Conflict, trauma, and mental health: Exploring pathways to peace and violence in fragile and conflict-affected situations

Lecture Theatre

The effect of violent conflict is more than material. It can lead to a range of negative outcomes at the individual level such as moral injury and mental health problems. It can also impact the group level by generating collective traumas, influencing collective memories and narratives, fraying social relations, lowering trust in institutions, and exacerbating intergroup tensions. Such negative outcomes at both individual and group levels can fuel cycles of violence. Unpacking the relationship between adverse experiences, such as in conflict, and individual and collective propensity for political violence must avoid reductionist explanations. Understanding the complex relationship between conflict, trauma and mental health can help inform more effective interventions and policies to mitigate cycles of violence. This panel will discuss the role of individual and collective traumas – from adverse childhood experience to collective memories – in conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere – highlighting the implications for policy and practice. 

10:45 – 11:15
Break 

Marble Hall & Gallery

11:15 – 12:30

Breakout Roundtable Discussions:

Conference participants are invited to join one of three concurrent roundtables. These sessions are designed as facilitated discussions with comments from expert participants intended to spur contributions from those in the room.

Balancing competing strategic interests in cross-border conflict stabilisation, resolution and prevention

(Breakout Roundtable D – Council Room) 

Building on discussion of the complex power dynamics and interactions that fuel conflict, particularly in borderlands, this panel will examine how differing interests and objectives among local, national, regional and international actors can create competing imperatives for conflict reduction and resolution. Drawing on evidence from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, discussion will highlight contradictory trends  and consider how international conflict stabilisation and resolution efforts can adapt to more effectively engage with the priorities and needs of local communities.  

Corruption and conflict response: Breaking a vicious cycle

(Breakout Roundtable E – Manufacturing Room) 

Political corruption lies the root of many violent conflicts across the MENA region and is a critical obstacle to long-term stability. State, civil society, hybrid and non-state actors often alternate between competition and cooperation within and across borders to gain political and economic advantage. These interactions undercut effective governance and foster conditions for resurgent violence, fuelling a vicious cycle of instability. Drawing on research and evidence from Libya, Iraq, and Syria, this session will examine how conflict response efforts, in particular political settlements, can more effectively disrupt the corruption-conflict cycle. 

Critiquing social inclusion and pathways to peace in fragile and conflict-affected settings

(Breakout Roundtable F – George Stephenson Room)

‘Social inclusion’ is often a focus of conflict recovery and development interventions in fragile settings. However, research from the field illustrates how such interventions can sometimes overlook the multiplicity of interests at play or fail to genuinely alter patterns of inequality or exclusion, thus reinforcing the dynamics that feed instability. In addition, the lack of a universally accepted definition of what social inclusion entails opens the door to its manipulation. This can undermine the integrity and effectiveness of initiatives aimed at enhancing empowerment and preventing the alienation of vulnerable or minority groups. Offering comparative examples from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Uganda, this roundtable will explore the elements of meaningful inclusion and ‘what works’ in support of it. 

12:30-13.30

Lunch

13:30 – 14:30
Navigating rising risk in the Levant – ‘fireside chat’

Lecture Theatre

We invite participants to join a conversation with BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, President of the US/Middle East Project Daniel Levy and Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center Senior Fellow Yezid Sayigh to examine escalating violence in Lebanon, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The conversation will assess the implications of widening transnational conflict on regional security and stability and prospects for conflict reduction.

14:30-14:45

Break

14:45 – 16:00
Policymaker perspectives: Improving integration and coordination in transnational conflict response

Lecture Theatre

This session will offer international and multilateral policymakers an opportunity to reflect on the transnational conflict dynamics and trends discussed at the conference and consider implications for policy, programming, coordination, and ways of working to resolve and prevent conflict. Speakers also will highlight the evidence needs of policy actors to support informed responses to cross-border and transnational conflict in the MENA region. 

16:00-16:30  

Conference wrap-up: Cross-border conflict research and practice: implications and strategic directions

Lecture Theatre

XCEPT research leads Maha Yahya, Sanam Vakil, and Craig Larkin will draw together key considerations raised over the two days, with a focus on implications for research and policy efforts to restore stability, support recovery and improve prospects for conflict resolution and inclusive governance. XCEPT Executive Director Ruth Citrin will moderate.

16:30

Conference conclusion and departure

End of day two