The Kroc Cast: Peace Studies Conversations

Co-Creating Peace: The Evolution of PAM-M in the Philippines

How can a global research tool become a localized "bridge" for peace? In this episode of the Kroc Cast, experts Madhav Joshi, Myla Liguoro, and Bishnu Sapkota join host Melinda Davis to discuss the evolution of PAM-Mindanao (PAM-M).

The conversation highlights how a framework originally known for its global research has become a "scientific art of accompaniment" in the Bangsamoro peace process, fostering trust through a unique co-creation model between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The guests explore how evidence-based monitoring serves as a vital bridge between high-level negotiations and grassroots realities.

The Human Network Behind the Data: Monitoring Peace in Colombia

Peace implementation is a long, nonlinear journey that requires more than just technical oversight—it requires a human network rooted in trust. In this episode of The Kroc Cast, we go behind the scenes of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) to explore its historic responsibility: independently monitoring the 2016 Final Peace Accord in Colombia.

Host Cristian Sáez Flórez is joined by the researchers and practitioners who bring this work to life through a unique partnership between the University of Notre Dame and the Colombian Barometer Initiative. This conversation dives into the delicate balance between measuring progress and respecting the lived realities of communities navigating the legacy of conflict. From technical innovations in transitional justice to the emotional dimensions of post-conflict work, our guests share how this binational collaboration turns high-level commitments into tangible change on the ground.

The episode features Ángela María Ramírez Rincón, Executive Director of the Barometer Initiative in Colombia; Mateo Gómez Vásquez, Technical Research Leader; Natalia Restrepo Ortiz, Research Associate; and Carolina Serrano Idrovo, Research Associate for PAM at the Kroc Institute. 

The Fifty-Year Arc: A Practitioner’s Adventures with Peace Processes

Are we facing the dusk or the dawn of peace processes and global peacebuilding efforts?

In this episode of the Kroc Cast, renowned scholar-practitioner Dr. John Paul Lederach invites listeners to reflect on his half-century arc of experience in the field and challenges us to confront the core tensions of peacemaking in a time of crisis.

This episode was recorded live at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies' Strategic Peacebuilding Academy on "Peace Processes" in 2025.

You can access Dr. Lederach's full PowerPoint Presentation here.

 

 

The Kroc Cast is BACK!

We know you've been waiting—and we're thrilled to announce an all-new season of The Kroc Cast beginning November 2025.

 

This season we're zeroing in on the most critical element of any peace effort: the peace agreements. We'll explore how signed documents transform into real change on the ground, guided by the Institute's globally renowned tool, the Peace Accords Matrix.

 

Don't miss this season connecting global research with the local reality.

Preserving Voices, Confronting Violence: Insights from the Legacy Project

In this episode of The Kroc Cast, Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, director of the Peace Accords Matrix and the Legacy Project at the Kroc Institute, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, explores the power of Colombia’s Truth Commission Transmedia Platform and its relevance for peacebuilding worldwide. The conversation highlights how this innovative, multimedia archive preserves multiple voices and lived experiences of Colombia’s armed conflict while offering insights for societies grappling with the legacies of violence.

Joining the discussion are two distinguished scholars working with the Legacy Project: Leigh Payne, Professor of Sociology and Latin America at the University of Oxford, whose extensive research on transitional justice spans Latin America and beyond, and Emma Murphy, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Keough-Naughton Institute and the Kroc Institute, whose work develops the concept of agonistic transitional justice as an alternative to liberal approaches. Together, they reflect on the possibilities and challenges of memory, contestation, and multiplicity in processes of truth-telling and reconciliation.

Peace Policy Spotlight: The Power of Art in Peacebuilding

Art has long been a powerful tool for fostering understanding, reconciliation, and healing in conflict-affected societies. By transforming cultural, political, and ideological boundaries, artistic expression allows individuals to communicate, reflect, and envision new possibilities for coexistence.

In this episode, Peace Policy guest editor Norbert Koppensteiner, Associate Teaching Professor of Peace Studies, joined the contributors of the issue to discuss the diverse ways that art contributes to peacebuilding, demonstrating its ability to cultivate empathy, challenge oppressive structures, and create spaces for dialogue.

Contributors to this issue of Peace Policy include Alison Ribeiro de Menezes, a Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Warwick, UK; Vera Brandner, head of the NGO ipsum and a freelance scientist and lecturer; Jessica (Doe) Mehta, Ph.D. (Aniyunwiya/Cherokee Nation), a 2024-2025 Visiting Research Fellow at the Kroc Institute; and Paula Ditzel Facci, a dancing peace researcher and assistant professor of peacebuilding at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.

Read all articles in this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.

SheLeads4Peace Summer School

Every year, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) hosts the SheLeads4Peace Summer School, a program dedicated to providing women peacebuilders the necessary skills to be a leader for peace as they transition from their education into their professional careers. For the past two years, the Kroc Institute has had the privilege of partnering with UNITAR to send a delegation of seven Notre Dame undergraduate women to Geneva to take part in this event.

In this episode, Anna Van Overberghe, assistant director for Academic Administration and Undergraduate Studies, is joined by Mary Kate Cashman (BA '24), Erin Tutaj (BA '24), and Ella Ermshler (BA '25), three peace studies students who participated in the 2023 SheLeads4Peace Summer School this past August. 

 

Peace Policy Spotlight: Nuclear War and Climate Change

This episode is dedicated to our latest issue of Peace Policy, which focuses on the co-mingling of two existential crises of our time: the threat of nuclear war, and potential planetary destruction through climate change.

 

Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, serves as this year’s faculty editor of Peace Policy. She is joined by George A. Lopez, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies and the guest editor of this Peace Policy issue, for a conversation about essays from our expert contributors, ranging from environmental and nuclear risks in Ukraine, to Pope Francis, to climate change.

 

Contributors to this issue of Peace Policy include Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; Drew Marcantonio (Ph.D. '21), Department of Management & Organization within the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, as well as a faculty fellow with the Kroc Institute, and Kristina Hook (Ph.D. '20), an assistant professor of Conflict Management with Kennesaw State University in Georgia; and Jerry Powers, director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies at the Kroc Institute and coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network.

Read all articles in this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.

A Conversation with Cardinal John Onaiyekan on the Catholic Church as Peacebuilder in Africa

In this episode, Fr. Emmanuel Katongole, professor of theology and peace studies at the Kroc Institute, hosts a conversation with His Eminence Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Archdiocese in Nigeria.

Cardinal Onaiyekan, one of Africa's most prominent religious peacebuilders, reflects on lessons learned from his decades of work for peace in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

Racism Roadtrip

Today’s episode features three current Keough School of Global Affairs students who took part in the course “Racial Justice In America,” offered through the Center for Social Concerns. The conversation is hosted by Euda Fils (MGA '23), and the guests include Bernice Antoine (B.A. '26) and Aidé Cuenca Narvaéz (MGA '23). 

The course's curriculum is centered around Clint Smith's book, How the Word Is Passed, which is about Clint’s visit "to eight places in the United States as well as one abroad to understand how each reckons with its relationship to the history of American slavery.” As part of the course, students were offered the opportunity over spring break to visit some of the same sites that Clint did, as well as some other additional sites in the US that were important in both the history of slavery and the story of the struggle for civil rights.