The Vice-Chancellor’s Podcast: Conflicts, war, the road to peace and the role of the University
In this episode of the Vice-Chancellor’s Podcast, Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt and speechwriter Johannes Borgegård meet Peter Wallensteen, Dag Hammarskjöld Professor Emeritus of Peace and Conflict Research.
Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt, Johannes Borgegård and Peter Wallensteen.
The Vice Chancellor’s Podcast 4 March, 2026
Professor Wallensteen describes the origins and development of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research and ways in which it has contributed to the development of the knowledge base and practical peace endeavours.
The original initiative came from graduate students and young academics in the 1960s, and gained the support of Vice-Chancellor Torgny Segerstedt. The peace movement was strong at the time and the field was popular with students. Wallensteen became the first director and professor in the field. From the outset and by its nature, peace and conflict studies has been an interdisciplinary field of research, involving sociology, politics, psychology, natural sciences and other disciplines.
Establishment of the Uppsala Conflict Database Program
A significant development was the establishment of the Uppsala Conflict Database Program (UCDP), which came about after Wallensteen realised that no such database existed. From small beginnings, based on midnight broadcasts from the BBC World Service, and with findings distributed in typewritten lists, the database has grown to be the most comprehensive and respected of its kind and a magnet for researchers and students from around the world. Wallensteen is keen to emphasise the essential practical relevance of the research conducted.
Wallensteen himself was invited to mediate between government forces and rebels in Papua New Guinea (Bougainville) and the department played a significant role in facilitating dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians in the lead-up to the Oslo Accords.
Unique potential of universities
Although the international environment is more challenging at present, with the pendulum having swung away from universalist and internationalist principles to nationalistic and isolationist attitudes, Wallensteen still believes in the unique potential of universities to contribute to knowledge through peace and conflict research, to engage in dialogue with politicians and antagonists, and to propose practical steps forward in the pursuit of peace.