5 months ago
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NFLA and Mayors for Peace Secretary Richard Outram joined the Vice Chancellor, leading academics, fellow alumni, current students and guests from the Quakers, Rotary and local peace groups at a special conference hosted by the University of Bradford last weekend (6 to 9 June) to mark the first fifty years of Peace Studies.
The concept of a School of Peace Studies in Bradford first originated in 1964, two years before then Bradford Institute of Technology became a university. Principal Dr Ted Edwards and Vice Principal Robert McKinlay agreed to establish such a school when the time was right to fulfil their commitment to the “application of knowledge to human welfare”.
In 1969, the Society of Friends (Quakers) began to seek a partner university in which to establish the UK’s first Peace Studies Department; Bradford answered the call. Northern Quakers made a public appeal raising £75,000 in just 10 weeks. Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Chancellor of the University of Bradford from 1966 to 1985; Bradford born writer J.B.Priestley, who can be said to be the father of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; American violinist Yehudi Menuhin; and British composer Benjamin Britten were amongst the contributors. The University matched the figure.
British peace academic Professor Adam Curle was appointed as the Inaugural Chair.
The Peace Studies Department now enjoys a justified worldwide reputation for its high-quality research and teaching, with students and graduates contributing to positive societal change in many disciplines across the globe. Today, there are 75 students on the BA International Relations, Politics and Security Studies programme and more than 600 across eight Masters’ programmes, as well as PhD students. Bradford was also the founder member of the Rotary Peace Centres network and is the only one in the UK, annually hosting 10 fully funded MA Rotary Peace Fellows from countries around the world.
Bradford University continues to be supported financially by the Quaker Peace Studies Trust and Rotary.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bradford, Professor Shirley Congdon, said recently at an event hosted in the House of Lords:
“We are immensely proud of Peace Studies. It was founded not by the University alone, but in collaboration with a group of Quakers, who shared the same vision, and supported by inspirational leaders, politicians, and creatives.
“From a small, yet fearless start, it has grown to be recognised, internationally, as a leading centre in the study of peace, conflict and sustainability. Our academics have lent their expertise to organisations including the UK Government, the UN, World Health Organisation, the EU and NATO, and worked alongside peacekeepers in conflicts including Israel-Palestine, the Balkan Wars and the Iraq War. Our graduates have gone on to work in international peacekeeping, humanitarian, and development organisations.
“The Centre is as relevant and needed today as ever, perhaps more so. Conflicts continue to rage throughout the world while the global fight against climate change has never been more urgent.”
NFLA and Mayors for Peace Secretary Richard Outram studied with Peace Studies at Bradford from 2017 to 2021, with a year out to attend an Australian university and complete a peace related work placement. He graduated in the summer of 2021 with a First-Class Honours degree in International Relations and Security Studies.
Richard described his personal motivation:
“When I turned 50, I resolved to fulfil one of my ambitions – to study for a degree, and, as I was already a peace activist in my hometown of Oldham, enrolling with Peace Studies at Bradford seemed a natural fit. One personal motivation was my desire to be the first person in my immediate family to graduate from university.”
Richard returned to Bradford last weekend bearing a gift – a ginkgo sapling grown from a seed harvested from a tree which had survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, despite being less than a mile away from the blast. Although buildings across the city were flattened and 140,000 citizens killed by the heat, the blast, or by fallout by end of 1945, city authorities have amazingly recorded the locations of 160 Hibaku (survivor) trees within two kilometres of the hypocentre.
To an assembled audience of almost 30 conference participants, Richard explained the truly unique provenance of the tree:
“In 2016, I was heavily involved in promoting peace as Secretary of the Oldham Pledge to Peace Forum. In May of that year, my late dear friend Councillor Derek Heffernan became Oldham’s First Mayor of Peace and in November of that year the borough joined Mayors for Peace. I applied to my predecessor Sean Morris for seeds, and a package promptly arrived as an early Christmas Present.
“A thought then struck me…what if we could host a ceremony where Hibakusha (Japanese atomic bomb survivors) could join Oldham’s Mayor of Peace in planting the atomic bomb survivor seeds in person? And by amazing serendipity, this is what occurred in the spring of 2017.
“I believe this is the only time this has happened in the UK. This sapling was the last that remained to be planted from that batch of seeds. Sixteen others have been planted in schools or public parks.”
As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, the sapling was planted in the University’s Peace Garden, and Richard could not think of a more fitting place to put it:
“This tree symbolises the hope of the people of Hiroshima that there be No More Hibakusha, and that there must be a nuclear free and peaceful world if our planet is to survive. It has been placed in the garden of a university dedicated to the promotion and attainment of peace through equipping students with the skills, knowledge, and commitment to go out into the world and make it possible. I hope it will continue to inspire future students to give their all to bring peace to the world.”
For more details about the history and work of the Peace Studies Department at the University of Bradford please go to:
For more information, please contact NFLA and Mayors for Peace Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
