Exploratory Colloquia

CGNK organizes numerous exploratory seminars and colloquiums where nonkilling is linked with an array of fields and topics such as education, environment, media, arts, security, futures, leadership, gender, etc. These colloquiums have been organized in a variety of settings but are now usually celebrated in conjunction with major conferences of a certain field of knowledge to attract participants and minimize costs, bringing together a group of prominent scholars from diverse theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches and also different academic and geographical backgrounds.

Some examples are the Nonkilling Neuroscience Exploratory Colloquium (Philadelphia, July 2009), the Nonkilling Political Science: Critical Evaluation panel at the 21st World Congress of Political Science (Santiago de Chile, July 2009), the Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploratory Seminar (Seoul, August 2010), the Protecting Sacred Spaces and Political Science Does Not kill! conference and seminar in Thailand (December 2009 and May 2010), the two editions of the Interdisciplinary Seminar on Nonkilling Research at the University of Hawaii (June 2009 and May 2010), Nonkilling Societies Exploratory Colloquium in conjunction with the American Anthropological Association annual meeting (Montréal, November 2011), the “The Bio-Social Bases for Nonkilling and Nonviolent Behavior” Workshop (Leiden, The Netherlands, May 2014) or the Nonkilling Balkans Forum (Sarajevo, Bosnia, August 2014). Reports on some of these events are available in the news section below or in our books page.

The 8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates produced a significant document known as the “Charter for a World Without Violence.” Besides adhering to the World Health Organization’s description of violence as a “preventable disease, Nobel Laureates emphasized a global need “To address all forms of violence we encourage scientific research in the fields of human interaction and dialogue, and we invite participation from the academic, scientific and religious communities to aid us in the transition to nonviolent, and nonkilling societies”. CGNK’s research component seeks to follow this call to action.

Research Portal and Repositorium

Over 600 scholars in 300 academic institutions in 73 countries have joined in 19 disciplinary research committees that are contributing to a scientific paradigm shift from acceptance of killing to discover and apply nonkilling knowledge. This is the largest network of scholars dedicated to advancing research to prevent and reduce killing from every discipline: from anthropology and history to physics and engineering, from economics and psychology to education and the arts, from neuroscience and futures to sociology and security.

CGNK is seeking to enhance the potential of this growing network through a Research Portal where research committee members and other scholars can interact and share their work with the rest of the academic community and the general public. The portal will include highlights on books, articles, dissertations, courses, scientific events, and reseach projects linked to nonkilling enabling collaborative work. A repositorium will also enable easy access to relevant knowledge, including dissertations and publications in general.

UNESCO Unitwin Network for Nonkilling Research

CGNK seeks to engage its academic partners (currently from more that 300 higher education institutions) in establishing UNESCO Chairs focused on specific aspects of nonkilling and a global UNESCO Unitwin Network for Nonkilling Research.

UNESCO’s envisions its Chairs and Unitwin Networks “as ‘think tanks’ and ‘bridge builders’ between the academic world, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making.” The Network will be the first to focus on the promotion, study and application of nonkilling at the higher education and research levels, seeking the effective application of nonkilling alternatives in different contexts and communities, serving as a reference point toward the establishment and reinforcement of networks and partnerships with education institutions, religious institutions, NGOs, indigenous nations and groups, governments, community leaders and individuals across the globe.