Institute Fellows (Religion, Arts and Peacebuilding) Dr Laura Dunne and Dr Liam O’Hare will be travelling to South Africa to participate in two upcoming colloquia in May to present the research and findings from the Queen’s University Belfast Innovation Zones.

Established in 2016, the QUB Innovation Zone is a partnership between Queen’s University Belfast and two local community organisations - The Greater Shankill Children & Young People Zone and the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership (CNP) - to drive forward social innovation and improve outcomes for children, young people, families and the community as whole.

Dr Liam O’Hare is the Director of QUB Innovation Zone and Dr Laura Dunne is the Deputy Director.  Find out more about the team here.

The events are presented by Stellenbosch University, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.  These hybrid events are open to the public and participants can attend in person or online.  Registration for both events is open now.

On Tuesday 9 May, the colloquium on Building research partnerships for community health and wellbeing through the life course will take place at Stellenbosch University, and online.  Organised by Dr Liam O’Hare, this event will feature presentations by researchers from the three Universities and discussion of their work across the research teams, mapping the move from local actions to global applications.  Professor Paul Connolly (University of Ulster) on Situational analyses for the LINKS early childhood development and peacebuilding project.  Liam will present on the Crescendo and Conversations children and young people projects conducted with the Shankill and Colin communities.

On Tuesday 14 May, the colloquium organised by Dr Karen Galway, QUB Innovation Zones Deputy Director, and Professor Frikkie Booysen (University of the Witwatersrand) on From Despair to Hope: Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention in the Global South and North will take place at the University of Witwaterstrand, Johannesburg, and online.  Liam will be presenting The Innovation Zones in Belfast, Northern Ireland: a collaboration model for community and academic sector partnerships.  Laura will be co-chairing the panel discussion.  Further details including registration information can be found here.