University of Bradford Peace Studies department celebrates 50 years of impacting world affairs

Now, celebrating its 50th anniversary year, those involved in shaping the UK's first Peace Studies School into one of the world's leading centres of conflict resolution and international development look back on a colourful - and sometimes controversial - history.

Professor Prathivadi Anand, Head of Department of of Peace Studies and International Development, says: “It has been a success against all the odds - being located far out of the capital city, in a place that is usually associated with successful pre-Victorian era female authors of Haworth and Victorian era industrial philanthropists such as Sir Titus Salt, but no ready connection with wars or peace deals. I think that is the uniqueness of this department. It seems to shout out that if you have a will, it is possible to make a difference.”

On May 18, three times Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Bradford alum Scilla Elworthy will be speaking at a special event in the House of Lords as well.

But idea for a School of Peace Studies first came about in 1964, two years before the Bradford Institute of Technology became a university.

While devising the Charter of Statutes, Principal Dr Ted Edwards and Vice Principal Robert McKinlay - who became the University’s first Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor - agreed that, when the time was right, they would found such a school to fulfil their commitment to the “application of knowledge to human welfare.”

By the end of the decade, The Society of Friends - known as Quakers - had the same thought and approached a number of UK universities with the idea.

Bradford was the only institution prepared to fund such a centre. McKinlay himself was a Quaker and the idea seemed a good fit for the city where the celebrated writer and social commentator, J.B.Priestley, sowed the seeds for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

In less than 10 weeks of a public appeal being launched in 1971, the Quakers had raised the required £75,000, including contributions from former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Chancellor of the University from 1966 to 1985, J.B. Priestley, American violinist Yehudi Menuhin and British composer Benjamin Britten. The University matched the amount of funding.

Adam Curle, an eminent British peace academic who had been involved in conflict resolution in Africa and Asia, was approached to be the centre's first Chair. His colleagues at Harvard University, USA, where he held a prestigious position, were reportedly astonished when he accepted.

It was conducted as a kind of cooperative, with students encouraged to discuss details of the teaching programme as well as the sorts of qualifications needed in staff.

In 1978, following Curle's retirement, the department came under the leadership of James O’Connell, but it was still to face one final hurdle. Margaret Thatcher came to power the following year and, with knowledge from her previous post as Secretary of State for Education, was concerned that the School was not so much a serious academic institution, but rather a potentially destabilising campaign group calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

It's believed that, at one point, she asked: “Has that Peace Studies problem been dealt with yet?” It is a quote Professor Anand now has on a T-shirt in his office, a gift from a former colleague.

And it is thought that it was on the Prime Minister's behest that, in the mid-1980s, the then Education Secretary dispatched Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, Chairman of the University Grants Committee, to investigate.

To the surprise of many, the University passed its inspection with flying colours, boosting the centre’s reputation and Peace Studies remained. But afterwards, the centre began to more closely resemble that of traditional academic schools. “If it hadn’t, we would have been closed down long ago!” says Professor Anand.

Tom Woodhouse, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies, adds: “It started as something that was given very little chance of survival and has grown into a global player, now one of the biggest peace studies departments in the world in terms of reputation.”

Over the half-century, academics have lent their expertise to organisations including the UK Government, United Nations Peacekeeping and NATO, and worked alongside peacekeepers in conflicts including Israel-Palestine, the Balkan Wars and the Iraq War. Staff have served on the Defence Policy Committee of the Labour Party and for many years maintained a research fellow in London to network with MPs on defence issues.

Professor Anand, who is himself celebrating his silver anniversary at Bradford, says the centre will continue to play a vital role in the future.

He said: “Peace is a quest. The human condition and all the challenges we have, such as climate change and food insecurity, are going to need action for the next 20, 30, 40 years. These are not short term, fashionable issues.

"The nature of programmes and research will change in a dynamic world but issues like peace and resolution date back to Aristotle and Plato and we’re still talking about them today. I have no doubt our department will still be carrying out vital research and educating the leaders of tomorrow in another 50 years.”