Lord John Alderdice has been awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists during their annual awards ceremony.

The awards mark the highest levels of excellence and achievement within the field of psychiatry.

Lord Alderdice was born and brought up in Northern Ireland and played a vital role in helping to resolve conflict and restore peace during the Troubles. In 1978, he joined the Alliance party which tried to build the centre ground. In 1987 at the age of 32, he was elected leader of the Alliance Party.

He engaged in ongoing talks including with the prime ministers of the UK and Ireland and leaders of the EU and the President of the USA, that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast in 1998.

In his psychiatry career, he was appointed to professorships at the University of San Marcos in Peru and at the Universities of Virginia and Maryland in the USA. He currently holds appointments at Oxford University, including Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College and Executive Chairman of The Changing Character of War Centre at Pembroke College.

He is a professor of practice at the Global Humanity for Peace Institute at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Lord John Alderdice said: “This award is a demonstration of the good fortune I have had in my professional life to be encouraged by colleagues in psychiatry who care both about their patients, and the disturbed societies in which they live.

“The mental health professionals that I worked with in Northern Ireland, and later around the world, gave me the intellectual, emotional, and collegial support that I needed to work in situations of conflict.

“I want them and others to know that they should never underestimate the impact and importance of encouragement, especially to a young person trying to do the best they can for others.”

Dr Adrian James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “If anyone deserves a lifetime achievement award, it is Lord John Alderdice. He has devoted so much of his working life to politics and psychiatry.

“Not only was he an ambassador for peace and conflict resolution during turbulent times in Northern Ireland but he is a focused and world-leading psychiatrist at the top of his profession.

“It is wonderful to be able to recognise him through this award.”

Dr Richard Wilson, chair of RCPsych NI, said: “Many congratulations to Lord John Alderdice on this much deserved award. Not only has he been an important political figure in Northern Ireland, but he continues to be a leading light in the world of psychiatry.

“This accolade is a true testament to an interesting and much varied career.”

Launching amid another Stormont impasse, the programme equips aspiring leaders here with the skills to lead Northern Ireland forward

Applications are now open for the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building Fellowship, a prestigious programme which seeks to produce Northern Ireland’s next generation of changemakers.

Now in its second year, the Fellowship aims to strengthen Stormont’s democratic institutions and ensure that our next generation of Ministers, CEOs, and civic leaders, are best placed to lead the region going forward. Previous Fellows include John Finucane MP, Connie Egan MLA, and Cllr Aaron Callan and IoD Northern Ireland Director, Kirsty McManus.

The Fellowship is delivered by the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building (CDPB), working with leading representatives from Northern Ireland’s business sector including Allstate NI, FinTrU, Devenish, Fujitsu NI, Ulster Carpets. The programme is also supported by leading academic institutions and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

In discussions with leading policymakers, academics, business leaders and public figures, Fellows will engage with global social, political and economic issues and seek to develop their understanding of how to tackle those issues in Northern Ireland. Successful participants will also have the chance to participate in residential sessions at the University of Oxford and in Dublin.

Fellowship Chair, and Managing Director of Allstate NI, John Healy, says that this year’s programme is timely and significant given the current political deadlock facing Northern Ireland. He calls on parties, businesses, and civic society organisations to nominate those individuals that can use the Fellowship to build a better society here.

John Healy, Managing Director at Allstate NI and Chair of the Fellowship Advisory Board, said:

“The Fellowship is a brilliant initiative, and this year’s programme could not have come at a more crucial time. Northern Ireland is facing multiple challenges and with the Stormont corridors empty, we are also facing a political leadership crisis. This programme will give our future leaders the knowledge, skills, and relationships to look beyond the insular world we face here, and bring an exciting, new, and much-needed vision to our region’s future.”

“Last year’s Fellowship was a resounding success, seen through the election of former Fellows following May’s Assembly poll. This year’s expanded programme includes engagements with some of the UK and Ireland’s brightest minds in Dublin, Oxford, Belfast, and everywhere in between. From political parties, to businesses, to the third sector, I would encourage all organisations to nominate an individual for this year’s Fellowship they feel could help shape the future of Northern Ireland.”

Karise Hutchinson, Professor of Leadership at Ulster University and Vice-Chair of the Fellowship Advisory Board, said:

“Next year we will celebrate 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement. A hard-won hallmark of compromise, it is disheartening that we currently face the prospect of honouring this milestone with no functioning government in place. The Fellowship seeks to ‘level up’ our next generation of political, civic and business leaders, giving them the confidence and ability to address Northern Ireland’s ongoing political, economic, and social challenges. At its core, it seeks to pave the way for a new spirit of possibility and compromise in our society.”

“Our Advisory Board contains leaders from Northern Ireland’s leading companies who will seek to instill in this year’s participants the hard and soft skills required to introduce real, wholesale change. I am thrilled to be supporting this fantastic programme, and I would encourage all those eligible to apply.”

Those interested can complete the Fellowship application form at fellowship.democracyandpeace.org where they will be asked to upload their CV and a short essay.

 

Thanks to the support from The Executive Office’s Central Good Relations Funding, the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building delivered ‘Ending Hate. Embracing Diversity.’ as part of the longstanding Unite Against Hate campaign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unite Against Hate 2022 comprised of four key elements:

1. A Workshop Series led by experts on diversity and inclusion (Deepa Mann-Kler), community relations (Sughra Ahmed) and mediation (Dorcas Crawford), helped attendees to develop the skills to overcome their biases, build braver communities and communicate in a healthy and conflict-free manner.
2. Online and On-demand Workshops based upon the initial workshop series accessible to all for FREE on Unite Against Hate website.
3. The Unite Against Hate Pledge asking people to challenge, reach out and speak out against prejudice and hate crime within Northern Ireland. This pledge received support from across the community within NI and across political parties with several MLAs signing to pledge support.
4. The Pledge Launch at the Skainos Centre in East Belfast. This insightful day was organised to include panels discussing topics such as challenges to peaceful relations in NI today, as well as the experiences of ethnic minorities in NI. The pledge itself was launched at the event by the Lord Mayor Kate Nicholl.

CDPB Chair Baroness Ritchie commented: ″Embracing diversity and uniting against hate is crucial in Northern Ireland because we know the consequences of prejudice, discrimination and hatred. We must embrace and support our minority communities and show them that Northern Ireland has learned from the past, and is now a place where diversity is celebrated, not rejected.″

The Unite Against Hate campaign has been delivered by the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building and supported by the Executive Office’s Central Good Relations Funding, part of the The ‘Together: Building a United Community’ (T:BUC) Strategy.

Rethinking Leadership. Oxford Series. Spiritual Leadership in the Time of War.

Thursday, 28 April 2022 | 10.30am – 12.30am | Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford

The war in Ukraine showed that victory is not only about raw power. It is also about spiritual leadership. What will change in our vision of leadership? What lessons can we draw from Ukrainian heroic resistance and the solidarity of neighbouring countries with Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees? What does this war mean for the West’s leadership? What cultural resources do we have when faced with violence?

In the first of six seminars in the Rethinking Leadership. Oxford Series we set out to seek models of leadership that address the most pressing challenges of our time. And the war is the first among them. Our initial premise is that leadership is an art of courageous presence in the midst of chaos, it is a spiritual journey between ever-new polarities, it is a search for meaning. In leadership personal authenticity meets social and political dilemmas. But how can we be present when we are faced with atrocities and genocidal acts? Is there a place for love and goodness, when we are overrun with hatred and evil. What is the West’s responsibility for the Russian invasion? What should be our next steps?

Speakers:

• The Lord Alderdice FRCPsych, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College
• Dr Marek Mutor, President of The Platform of European Memory and Conscience, Founder and Director of the ”Memory and Future” Centre and “Centrum Historii Zajezdnia”
• Dr Anna Abram, Principal of Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge
• Special Guest: Father Oleh Kindiy, professor of Ukrainian Catholic University
• Co-chairs: Professor Michal Luczewski, Two Wings Institute and Eva Grosman, Centre for Democracy and Peace Building

Register at: https://tinyurl.com/twowings1

This event is co-organised by the Two Wings Institute and Zajezdnia – the Remembrance and Future Centre in Wroclaw, in partnership with the Oxford Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict, Centre for Democracy and Peace Building, Oxford Polish Association and the Polish Cultural Institute in London, and co-financed by the Polish National Foundation.

Join us for a series of three online workshops to explore how through understanding bias, challenging misconceptions, and the development of better communications skills, we can help to eradicate hate, embrace diversity and become better co-workers, neighbours and citizens.

• Session 1: “Without Bias” with Deepa Mann-Kler, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist

This session will explore and highlight how bias impacts all of us, what are the triggers, and what we can do to mitigate the impact of bias.

• Session 2: “Building Braver Communities” with Sughra Ahmed, Director of Education, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights UK

This session will challenge and explore misconceptions about ethnic and religious minorities and help us to better understand the issues affecting our communities, today. 

• Session 3: “The Better Way” with Dorcas Crawford, Conflict Management Consultant, The Better Way

 In this session we will look at the skills that help us manage conflict in a healthy, respectful non-combative way.

Group 1

Tuesday evenings: 6pm – 7.30pm

• Tue, 8 Feb
• Tue, 15 Feb
• Tue, 22 Feb

Register at: https://tinyurl.com/ya6bzmcx

 

Group 2

Thursday mornings: 10am – 11.30am

• Thurs, 10 Feb
• Thurs, 17 Feb
• Thurs, 24 Feb

Register at: https://tinyurl.com/3ucf49jf

 

Our contributors:

Deepa Mann-Kler, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist

Deepa Mann-Kler is Chief Executive of Neon a health technology company; Visiting Professor In Immersive Futures with Ulster University; has 14 years Non-Executive leadership experience with a cross sector exposure across the UK and is passionate about delivering change in equality, diversity and inclusion. As a thought leader and TEDx speaker she keynotes at conferences on the intersection of technology, innovation, diversity, ethics, bias, culture, data, health and wellbeing through compelling storytelling. Deepa is author of the first report on race discrimination with policy recommendations for the public sector in Northern Ireland “Out Of The Shadows.”

Sughra Ahmed, Director of Education, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights UK

Sughra Ahmed, Director of Education at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, UK, specialises in human rights education, enabling schools and young people to take a person-centered approach in understanding global human rights and explore the power of agency in creating impactful change.

She is also Founder Director of Bridging Our Divides, an organisation that seeks to build a collective working towards the common good – for which the key principles are listening, understanding, and creating progressive grassroots change by working with people from all walks of life in some of the most socio-economically deprived parts of England.

Working in a range of religious capacities, she has spent time in the UK and USA exploring contextual theology and religious expressions across communities of faith and belief. Most recently, as Associate Dean for Religious Life, at Stanford University, she worked with young people helping them to find meaning and purpose as they moved through their academic lives.

Dorcas Crawford, Conflict Management Consultant, The Better Way

Dorcas is a recovering lawyer, having spent 34 years in Belfast law firm, Edwards & Co. Solicitors where she was Senior Partner until 2021. Dorcas qualified as a mediator in 2008 and in 2015 launched ‘The Better Way’, a specialist conflict management service. She sold her law firm in April 2021, retiring from the law to pursue her passion for helping people to find solutions for conflict through training, facilitation and mediation. Dorcas is well known as a business leader in NI, particularly for her innovative Twitter networking initiative #Belfasthour which became known as one of the most effective online marketing communities for SME’s. Dorcas is a committed supporter of Bowel Cancer UK and is 2021 President of Lean In Ireland.