Sports and Peacebuilding
The Georgetown University Conflict Resolution Program has announced a unique collaboration with Generations For Peace Institute in Amman, Jordan, to create three prestigious annual awards. ?These three awards will provide funding for post-doctoral and M.A. students who are interested in the intersection of sport and peacebuilding. Generations For Peace trains leaders of youth to use sport to bring young people from both sides of the divide together.
Dr. Sarah Hillyer: The HM King Abdullah II of Jordan Generations For Peace Research Fellowship Recipient
Dr. Hillyer comes to Georgetown from the University of Tennessee where she earned a PhD in Sport and Exercise Science with a concentration in Sport Sociology. Sarah’s research interests include the intersection of sport and peacebuilding, sport and community development, sport and diplomacy, and sport as a tool for effective and positive social change. Sarah’s passion for research stems from seventeen years as a sport and peacebuilding practitioner.
In the spring of 2011, Sarah begins her work as the Generations for Peace (GfP) Sport & Peacebuilding post-doctoral fellow in the CR program. She will be teaching GOVT 517: Sport & Peacebuilding and in her class, students will cover a range of topics including the history, current trends and future direction of sport and peacebuilding, best practices in sport & peacebuilding, and how to design, implement, and evaluate sport and peacebuilding programs. Students will participate in several hands-on activities related specifically to the course objectives.
In addition to Sarah’s time in the classroom, she will begin examining best practices in Sport & Peacebuilding and exploring the intersection of sport, peacebuilding, and technology through a pilot project she has named, the Virtual Youth Sports Exchange (VYSE). In May, Sarah will travel to Baghdad, Iraq to collect data and test the VYSE pilot project.
Meeghan Zahorsky: The H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Generations for Peace Graduate Scholar Recipient
Meeghan graduated from Brown University in 2009 with a B.A. in international relations. She is currently involved in Dance 4 Peace, which, is a quickly expanding organization that was first implemented in Colombia. It is now starting its pilot year in Washington, DC and New York City. Meeghan surveys, how the curriculum based on self-expression through movement will be implemented in inner-city schools. Her next step will be observing how the youth dancers interact with the curriculum over the course of the semester.
