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School of Government & International Affairs

Staff Profiles

Prof Nick Lewer, 1973 University of Dundee – BDS, 1993 University of Bradford – PhD (Peace Studies)

Contact Prof Nick Lewer

Biography

Before being appointed as Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Durham University, Dr Nick Lewer was based in Sri Lanka where he was Director of the PG Diploma and Capacity Building Programme (Social Scientists Association) which delivered academic programmes and conflict resolution training in violence affected areas. He was also Lead Facilitator at the Sri Lanka One-Text Initiative, a forum that facilitates dialogue between senior political representatives. 

Prior to this he was a Senior Lecturer, the Director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution, and Director of the Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford.  

He has worked as a consultant in the fields of monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment; conflict analysis; community peace building; peace education; and, conflict sensitivite programme and project design. This includes work for DFID, The Asia Foundation, International Alert, Oxfam, FORUT, Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland e.V. (ASB), Responding to Conflict (UK), Cordaid, UNDP, the British Council, the FCO, and the Conflict Sensitivity Consortium (UK)

Nick has worked internationally as a trainer in conflict resolution, mediation and principled negotiation, and has experience as a mediator in the UK, Sri Lanka, the Balkans and Cyprus.

Supervises

Mr Simon Weatherbed

Research Interests

  • Non (Less) Lethal Weapons
  • Conflict Analysis and Conflict Prevention
  • Conflict Sensitivity and Conflict Resolution
  • Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation
  • Political Negotiation and Facilitation
  • Mediation
  • Adult Education in Conflict Zones
  • Linkages between Peace Building, Development and Emergency Relief

Teaching Areas

  • Conflict Analysis
  • Module: Conflict Mediation
  • Module: Conflict Sensitive Project Design
  • Module: Negotiation in Asymmetric Conflict
  • Module: Study Trip: Sri Lanka and Nepal

Indicators of Esteem

  • Editorial Board: Medicine, Conflict and Survival
  • Editorial Board: Journal of Peace Education

Publications

Books: authored

  • Lewer, Nick & Schofield, S (1997). Non-Lethal Weapons. A Fatal Attraction? Military Strategies and Technologies for 21st Century Conflict. Zed Books.

Books: edited

  • Lewer, Nick (2002). The Future of Non-Lethal Weapons. Technologies, Operations, Ethics and Law. London: Frank Cass.

Edited works: contributions

  • Lewer, Nick & Ismail, M. (2011). ‘The Genealogy of Muslim Political Voices in Sri Lanka’. In Conflict and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. Caught in the Peace Trap?. Goodhand, Jonathan, Spencer, Jonathan & Korf,Benedikt Routledge. 119-131.
  • Lewer, N. (2010). 'Non-Lethal Weapons: A Rose by any Other Name'. In The Geneva Conventions Under Assault. Perrigo, S. & Whitman, J. London: Pluto Press. 136-154.
  • Lewer, Nick, & William, J. (2005). 'The Peace Process in Sri Lanka: Historical, Political, Economic and Conflict Resolution Perspectives'. In South Asia Yearbook. Madrid: CIDOB Foundation and Elcano Royal Institute, Madrid. 231-240.
  • Lewer, N. (2002). 'NGO's and Mainstreaming Conflict Prevention'. In Mainstreaming Conflict Prevention: Concepts and Practice. van de Goor, L. & Huber, M. Baden-Baden: 126-144.

Journal papers: academic

  • Lewer,N & Harris,S (2010). Conflict Sensitivity in Emergency International Nursing. Journal of International Emergency Nursing
  • Lewer, N. & Harris, S. (2008). 'Peace Education in Conflict Zones - Experience from Northern Sri Lanka'. Journal of Peace Education 5(2): 127-140.
  • Lewer, N. (2006). 'Charles Richet: Medical Scientist, Innovator, Peace Thinker and Savant'. Medicine, Conflcit and Survival 26(2): 145-158.
  • Lewer, N. & Harris, S. (2005). 'Post-Graduate Peace Education in Sri Lanka'. Journal of Peace Education 2(2): 109-124.
  • Lewer, N & Davison, N (2005). Non-Lethal Technologies - An Overview. Disarmament Forum 37-51.
  • Lewer,N, Goodhand,J & Hulme,D (2000). Social Capital and the Political Economy of Violence: A Case Study of Sri Lanka. Disasters 24(4): 390-407.
  • Coningham,R & Lewer,N (1999). Paradise Lost: The Bombing of the Temple of the Tooth – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka. Antiquity 73(282): 857-866.
  • Lewer,N & Goodhand,J (1999). Sri Lanka: NGOs and Peacebuilding in Complex Political Emergencies. Third World Quarterly 20(1): 69-87.

Supervises