Transforming Conflict Conference



Transforming Conflict Conference

Speakers and Workshop Leaders: Biographical and Organisation Information

Dr Mark Owen

Mark Owen gained a BA in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Winchester, and received Arts and Humanities Research Council funding for an MA in Death in World Religions, and doctoral research in the area of Tibetan Buddhism. Mark has taught Buddhism at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and his research interests include Buddhist relics; Buddhist ethnography; Religion and peacebuilding; Buddhism and conflict transformation. Mark is currently Director of the Winchester Centre of Religions for Reconciliation and Peace, University of Winchester.

The centre works in partnership with Religions for Peace & St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. Founding Patron: The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu

Padmadaka

Padmadaka was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2000. He was chairman of the Padmaloka retreat centre from 2001-2006, and of the Norwich Buddhist Centre from 2007-2010. Since 2007, Padmadaka has been working with Breathworks as a mindfulness instructor. He was Buddhist chaplain at the University of Wast Anglia from 2009-2010 and in 2012 became a Director of the Karuna Trust.

Karuna works in India, where hundreds of millions of people suffer lives of grinding poverty and oppression, excluded from the region’s economic boom. 'Low caste’ and tribal communities struggle as landless day labourers, in constant danger of violence and exploitation, with little or no recourse to the law or police. At best their children receive a few years of substandard schooling. In the teeming cities, such people live in cramped, dirty slum huts, so oppressed by the daily struggle to survive that they can offer little means of escape to their children.

Karuna works with community based organisations that are helping thousands of people to escape the hell of poverty and discrimination and take their rightful place in society. Karuna was established in 1980 and is part of the Triratna Buddhist Community but the projects are open to anyone regardless of background. Our projects promote dignity and self-confidence, and the breaking down of caste and religious barriers. Karuna is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘Compassionate Action Based on Wisdom’

For more information visit

Dr Michele Lamb

Michele Lamb is a Principal Lecturer in Human Rights at Roehampton University and also the Director of the Crucible Centre for Human Rights Research in the Department of Social Sciences at Roehampton.

Buddhism and Human Rights in an Age of Nationalism

The purpose of human rights is to protect individuals and groups from violations of dignity, security, well-being and autonomy by the State and other powerful non-state actors. The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders calls on all people to be peaceful defenders of universal human rights, thereby contributing to a peaceful and secure world for all.

This paper raises questions about how Buddhist teachings can support human rights defending in an era where nationalism, ‘national interest’ and national security are increasingly invoked as a justification for human rights violations around the world. The paper argues that Buddhist teachings are compatible with a cosmopolitan view of universally applicable human rights which reject distinctions between people on the basis of age, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity (to name but few), and theoretically at least, regard all livings beings as deserving of equal respect, rights and freedoms. Yet putting such a teaching into practice is challenging and recent events have shown that Buddhism and Buddhists can be manipulated in the service of the State as easily as any other religion or teaching. The paper therefore discusses what it means to be a human rights defender, what contribution a Buddhist perspective can offer to the ethical framework of human rights defending, and how Buddhism can contribute to the international human rights movement.

roehampton.ac.uk





Carina Pichler

Carina Pichler has been doing research on Restorative Justice and potential inspiration from Buddhist concepts and perspectives. She conducted several interviews with Buddhist monks and nuns Thailand in 2012/2013, visited temples and ceremonies, and met with restorative justice practitioners and theorists. With her background of studying International Development at the University of Vienna she developed a transdisciplinary approach. Currently she is working on her diploma thesis on restorative justice approaches and potential inspiration from Buddhist concepts and ideas.

Akuppa

Akuppa has worked as a prison chaplain since 2001, based at several prisons in the North of England. He is part of the Angulimala Prison Chaplaincy organisation. A member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, he teaches at Newcastle Buddhist Centre and is the author of ‘Saving the Earth: A Buddhist View’ (Windhorse Publications).

Angulimala Website:

Edward Canfor Dumas

Eddy Canfor-Dumas co-founded Engi in 2011. Prior to this he took the lead role in founding the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues in 2006 and has developed extensive relationships with the peace-building and conflict management sector, Parliamentarians, government, business and the media.

Engi is a social enterprise that focuses on the effective and non-violent management of conflict, nationally and internationally. The word engi means 'interdependent, interconnected, inter-related'.

It reflects the view that conflict is rarely simple, and that transforming it demands the need to engage with many different but connected areas, such as government, local communities, civil society, the military, the private sector - and individuals. Through our projects, training courses and parliamentary advocacy, Engi creates opportunities for effective conflict management through new relationships, new ideas and new initiatives.

Drawing on these links, Edward designed and delivers Engi's acclaimed 'Managing Conflict Positively' course. Alongside his conflict work Edward is a TV scriptwriter, whose award-winning credits include popular dramas The Bill and Kavanagh QC, and the worldwide hits Pompeii: The Last Day (nominated for two BAFTAs) and Supervolcano. A graduate of New College, Oxford, Edward has also authored two best-selling books on Buddhism.



Jenny Rogers

Jenny Rogers is the former CEO of Leap Confronting Conflict, the youth conflict specialists who won the 2009 Charity of the Year Award for Excellence in Leadership and Management, as well as the Award for Youth Projects. An experienced trainer, leader, programme designer and facilitator, Jenny brokered Leap’s partnership with Glasgow’s Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, working together on gangs and territorialism to achieve an overall 46% reduction in violent offending in its clients. Jenny has recently been involved with tourism-related conflict issues and the Jeevika Trust, and is currently leading the Alternatives to Violence Project. A Director of The Chirag Projects, Jenny is also a visiting Social Entrepreneur at INSEAD.

Justine Huxley

Justine Huxley is Programme Director for St Ethelburga's. She has a PhD in psychology and a diploma in counselling. She is part of a Sufi tradition and has been leading meditation and dream work groups in that tradition for 12 years. Justine says, "My Sufi training has inspired me to explore how we can create spaces where diverse groups of people can experience both their essential uniqueness and their mutual interdependence. More recently, I have begun to delve more deeply into the experience of conflict from a spiritual perspective and to link this with wider changes happening in the world. 

St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace exists to build relationships across divisions of conflict culture and religion. We do this in three ways, by offering spaces for dialogue, by delivering training, and by supporting individuals and communities in conflict. We initiated the Conflict Resilience Fellowship which is a multi-faith network of individuals and communities seeking to respond more consciously to conflict within faith communities, and exploring how we can bring our faith teachings and contemporary tools together.

Rev. Andrew Corsie

Andrew Corsie is a Christian who has been a Church of England priest for 20 years. He is a vicar of a parish in Ealing, west London. Andrew has been involved in conflict mediation for nearly 30 years and regularly offers mediation, consultancy and training related to conflict as part of his daily work. More recently Andrew has become involved with St Ethelburgas and the faith based, Conflict Resilience Fellowship project. 

Andrew will be presenting a workshop with Justine Huxley

Caroline Brazier

Caroline Brazier is course leader of the Tariki Psychotherapy Training Programme in Other-Centred Approach and the Ten Directions Programme in Ecotherapy. She is author of six books on Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Buddhist Psychology (Constable and Robinson, 2003) and Other-Centred Therapy (O-Books, 2009), and many articles and papers. Caroline travels internationally, teaching and running workshops. She practices as a psychotherapist and supervisor from her base in the Tariki Buddhist community, which is situated in Narborough, Leicestershire (). Caroline has three adult children and has recently become a grandmother.

Tariki Trust is a Buddhist charity which focuses on practical applications of Buddhist principles. Tariki is particularly known for the Tariki Training Programme in Other-Centred Psychotherapy and for the Ten Directions training in ecotherapy and hospital chaplaincy training. Based at The Buddhist House in Narborough, it offers events and involvement in psychological and healing therapies, social concern and arts. Find out more and for all training programmes.

contact: courses@ 

facebook:  

Links to Caroline's books and publications:

Peter Furtado

Peter Furtado is a historian and journalist, and a member of the Society of Friends. He has practised the new Japanese martial art Shintaido for over 30 years, and was until recently a board member of the world governing body.

Shintaido is a modern movement system based on traditional Japanese martial arts - principally karate and sword technique - with the emphasis on self development and artistic expression rather than self defence. Practitioners study a wide range of movements, some being open and energetic while others are soft and mediative. Shintaido classes include group work, partner practice and a number of solo exercises. The range of these exercises is enormous and includes movement suitable for people in a wide range of physical conditions.

The Shintaido curriculum is based around three fundamental ‘waza’ (formal sequences of movement). The first is 'eiko': an explosive movement best described as open, noisy and free. The second is 'tenshingoso': a sequence of five movements which contains the formal sequence behind all Shintaido technique. The third, 'meiso', is a kind of "meditation in motion" characterised by soft, gentle and flowing movement. These three ideas form the basis of Shintaido, and are designed to help practitioners re-invent their lives and the way they interact with people around them.

Website: shintaido.co.uk; 

Email peter@shintaido.co.uk; 

Facebook: 

Masashi Minagawa

Masashi Minagawa was one of the founding members of Shintaido in Japan. He lives in Bristol, and is the leader of Shintaido in the UK. He has been a core team facilitator with The Naked Voice since 1995. Following the direction of Hiroyuki Aoki, Minagawa has researched and taught this martial art form for 30 years. In addition to his work with British Shintaido, he is the coordinator of the European Shintaido College Technical Committee.

Masashi will be presenting workshops with Peter Furtado

Roy Leighton

Roy Leighton is an author, keynote speaker and adviser on learning, value creation and change management to businesses, local authorities and schools. An International Speaker as part of the Institute for Social Design (Canada) he is also a founding partner at The Coral Collective (Social Enterprise) and an educational consultant at Independent Thinking Ltd.

Roy has been working in value-based areas in education, the arts and business environments in the UK and internationally for over 25 years. He has written books on creativity, learning, parenting, leadership and confidence. As a broadcaster he co-devised and presented  ‘The Confidence Lab’ a six part series on personal confidence and change for Kudos Productions.

His books, TV programmes and awards include:

Confidence in Just Seven Days

The Big Book of Independent Thinking (contributor) 

Success in the Creative Classroom

Happy Families: Insights into the Art of Parenting

A Moon on Water: Activities & stories for Developing Children's Spiritual Intelligence

101 Days to Make a Change: Daily strategies to move from knowing to being

Confidence Lab for BBC 2





He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a recipient of the‘Min-on Art Award for Peace and Culture' min-

Marina Cantacuzino

Marina Cantacuzino is an award-winning journalist who in 2003, in response to the imminent invasion of Iraq, embarked on a personal project collecting stories in words and portraits of people who had lived through violence, tragedy or injustice and sought forgiveness rather than revenge. As a result Marina founded The Forgiveness Project, a UK-based not-for-profit that uses the real stories of victims and perpetrators of crime and violence to explore how ideas around forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice can be used to impact positively on people’s lives. The Forgiveness Project has no religious or political associations.

Marina also has a regular blog on The Huffington Post. In 2012 she spoke at the UN before Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon about her work and is a contributor in the film documentary Beyond Right and Wrong directed by Roger Spotiswoode. She also teaches about the Trauma Cycle and runs workshops exploring concepts of forgiveness.









Houria Niati

Houria Niati is a visual artist with an MA Fine Art and has been a member of SGI-UK since 1984.

"Enacting vision: a personal prespective through transformation" Living through a war is the most destructive situation for a human being. Not only that but the traumas of immigration, the dichotomy between East and West, the search for identity, are the incessant conflicts within yourself but also with the outside world. Based on personal experience, Houria’s talk will ask “How to survive all of this?”

Ken Jones

Ken Jones is a Zen Buddhist practitioner of some 40 years standing and a retreat teacher in the Western Chan Fellowship and Gaia House programmes and elsewhere. He was the co-founder of the UK Network of Engaged Buddhists, and author of several writings on socially engaged Buddhism, most notably "The New Social Face of Buddhism" which went through two editions. Ken is also an internationally celebrated writer and editor of haiku and haibun (haiku stories).



Latterly he has grown increasingly dissatisfied with the Buddhism/Western society interface. His presentation will fall into three parts, with a breather for Q&A and discussion after each. The first will be critical of how the Dharma is taught and presented to Westerners, with some proposals.

The second will discuss how socially Buddhism might effectively engage with our root global problems in order to effect radical change.. The third will emphasize the urgent need for a Buddhist Think Tank similar to other analogous bodies seeking to influence public opinion and policy making.

Modgala Louise Duguid

Modgala Duguid was a nun in the Amida Order for 14 years and had postings to Zambia, Bosnia and India. She has a keen interest in socially engaged Buddhism and is a member of the Network of Engaged Buddhists. She has published a book about her time in Zambia 'You might as well die here as anywhere'. Currently she is involved in interfaith work in the UK at local and national levels and is Interfaith officer for the NBO.

Jnanasiddhi

Jnanasiddhi (Sara Hagel) is Director of Peacemakers, a charity of the West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project. She has previously worked in the human rights field, developing membership capacity at Amnesty International for 10 years and as Publishing Director at Windhorse Publications, a small Buddhist publishing house.

Peacemakers aims are:

Equipping children and staff in schools with the skills to resolve conflicts creatively

Helping build more peaceful school communities through inclusive and restorative approaches

Helping build, maintain and repair healthy relationships throughout the school

.uk

info@.uk

Follow Peacemakers on twitter @WMQPEP or facebook: West Midlands Quaker Peace Eduction Project

In the workshop we will use some of the strategies used in the classroom to explore what conflict is, how it escalates and what we can do about it. The workshop will happen in a circle, and we will experience how this builds relationships, the basis for being able to deal with conflict creatively.

Shantigarbha

Shantigarbha is an international NVC trainer certified with the Centre for Nonviolent Communication (). Shantigarbha has led NVC workshops and retreats in the UK, the Middle East, the US, India and Sri Lanka and offers coaching / counselling for individuals and couples. In 2012 he ran a reconciliation retreat for 100 Israelis and Palestinians near the Dead Sea. He has written a regular column in Juno Magazine on NVC and parenting, and he’s author of a forthcoming book ‘ A Path to Empathy: the Art of Compassionate Connection’. He is also a longtime member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, and works as an Order Convenor. 

 

About

Communication can change the world. offers workshops and retreats in which people can connect with each other in a safe environment, and learn communication skills. We offer trainings in Nonviolent Communication, Mindful Communication and Living Compassion retreats in the UK, Europe, the US, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East. Find out how to bring compassion into your daily life. 

Website:  

Email: info@

The workshop is titled ' Conflict is inevitable, violence isn’t.' How do we transform conflict to create the quality of connection that will lead to everyone’s welfare being valued and addressed? This will be an experiential introduction to applying Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to conflicts.

Organisation information

The Network of Buddhist Organisations UK .uk was founded in 1993. A national umbrella organisation, the NBO is a charity which exists to support UK Buddhist organisations and their members. It promotes fellowship and dialogue between UK Buddhists to facilitate co-operation in matters of common interest and to work in harmony with Buddhist and likeminded organizations – for example the  European Buddhist Union and Inter Faith Network UK. The NBO exists to provide a framework and structure for Buddhists to cooperate together and respond in a coherent way to the growing demands being made on UK Buddhism.

The focus of the Centre for Applied Buddhism is to explore how the application of Buddhist thought can help to understand and develop humanity's place in the modern world. An innovative programme of events, seminars and conferences will cover areas such as environmental issues, psychotherapy, war and peace, economics, science, the digital world, creativity, ethics, gender and politics in relation to Buddhism. The centre is based at Taplow Court near Maidenhead.

The Network of Engaged Buddhists, .uk founded in the 1980s, is a forum for the development of Engaged Buddhism. NEB is a support group for anyone who is trying to combine social engagement with spiritual practice and a channel for organising and publicising appropriate action in line with Dharmic principles. The aim is to combine the cultivation of inner peace with active social compassion in a mutually supportive and enriching practice.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download