Since the establishment of the Conflict – Peace – Democracy Cluster (CPDC) at the University of Graz in early 2016, the university has been striving to enhance the visibility and networking of peace and conflict research not only in Graz but also throughout Austria and internationally. Peace and conflict research deals with violence and violent conflicts in the broadest sense. It seeks to formulate strategies to overcome these forms of violence in the short, medium, and long term. The diverse forms and manifestations of violence and conflict require an interdisciplinary approach to peace and conflict research. Therefore, it combines approaches from disciplines such as law, political science, international relations, social sciences, philosophy, psychology, cultural studies, anthropology, and many more. Peace and conflict research can thus be pursued from various scientific fields.

Within the CPDC, the University of Graz cooperates nationally with the Austrian Center for Peace at Schlaining Castle, the Democracy Center Vienna and the Institute for Conflict Research. In addition, the Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation is an important partner in this collaboration. Internationally, the university works within a network of researchers who regularly meet at academic conferences at Harvard University.

The CPDC aims to contribute to a peaceful, violence-free, and non-discriminatory development of society in the broadest sense, both within and outside Austria, based on science, theory, and practice, and to generally increase the societal visibility of its goals and activities. With the CPDC, an institution has been created that is dedicated at an international level to addressing these subject areas in research, teaching, and training, as well as the practical implementation of research results. The activities of the cluster are primarily oriented towards regions and topics that are of particular relevance to Austria and the EU. The cluster partners contribute their specific scientific, social, and practical competencies and experiences to this cooperation.

Steering group

• Prof. DDr. Jürgen Pirker and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Benedikt Harzl, MA (University of Graz)
• Mag.a Gertraud Diendorfer and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange (Democracy Center Vienna)
• Dr. Birgitt Haller (Institute for Conflict Research)
• Moritz Ehrmann (Austrian Center for Peace)