A little bit about the origins of EuPRA
The European Peace Research Association (EuPRA) was founded at a meeting in Groningen on 16 December 1988. On 5 July 1990, the IPRA General Conference, also held in Groningen, recognised EuPRA as the regional association of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) for Europe. EuPRA was formally constituted under the law of the Federal Republic of Germany on 1 December 1990, with its seat in Tampere, Finland. Since 23 March 2023, EuPRA has been registered as a non-governmental organisation in Finland.
In the 1990s, EuPRA was led by presidents Håkan Wiberg (Sweden) and Judit Balázs (Hungary). They were followed by Unto Vesa (Finland, 2000-2004), Riikka Kuusisto (Finland, 2004-2008), Nesrin Kenar (Turkey, 2008-2012), and Daniela Irrera (Italy). At the 2022 EuPRA Conference in Tampere, the members elected Ilaria Tucci as President. Karlheinz Koppe (Germany) and Attila Fábián (Hungary) have served as secretaries of the association over the years.
EuPRA has so far convened thirteen international conferences. The first, "Change and Continuity in European Peace Research," took place in Florence, Italy, in November 1991, followed by conferences in Budapest, Hungary (1993) and Twente, the Netherlands (1998). In 2002, the fourth conference met in Schlaining, Austria, under the theme "Europe as a Peaceful Power."
The fifth conference, "Challenges of Democracy and Peace in Europe," was held in Sakarya, Turkey, in 2007, and the sixth, "Bridging Divides: European Peace Architecture of Integration and Engagement," in Tirana, Albania, in 2009. In 2011, Tampere, Finland, hosted the seventh conference on "Europe and the World."
The 2013 conference in Famagusta, North Cyprus, addressed "Building Positive Peace in Europe and Its Neighborhood." Tromsø, Norway, hosted the 2015 conference, "The Framing of Europe: Peace Perspectives on Europe's Future," and Schwerte, Germany, the 2017 conference, "Peace and Conflict Studies from the Margins to the Center." In 2019, the conference "Peace in Difficult Times: Challenges Europe and the World Face" was held in Catania, Italy.
The twelfth conference took place in Tampere, Finland, from 1 to 4 June 2022, under the theme Empowering Peace: The Role of Civil Society in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation. The thirteenth followed in Pisa, Italy, from 4 to 9 November 2024, titled Towards Utopias of Peace: Theories and Practices of Peace, Hope and Resistance in Troubled Times.
The fourteenth conference will take place from 4 to 6 November 2026 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the theme Reclaiming Peace and Cultivating Hope Beyond the Crisis Narrative: Towards Accountability and Action.
Find out more about our conferences here.
Peace Ponies
The Peace Ponies knew their "accidental" debut during the EuPRA Conference in Tampere, Finland. They became somewhat part of it all, refused to leave, and we even got stuck with them in Pisa in 2024.
If you see random Peace Ponies relaxing while people are talking... You might find yourself in the midst of one of our conferences.