From Tree Huggers to Professional Hopers. How to start and flourish in a career in Conflict Resolution with Dr. Mary Fitzduff

Apr 25, 2019

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You made it in life when it is impossible to fit your accomplishments in one go. But when you remain a good human, it's even better. It is a tremendous honor to have as a guest Dr. Mary Fitzduff who is one of the leading academics of contemporary conflict resolution and coexistence policy. Irish-born activist, educator, writer and academic, and more importantly, a very good human being. In Episode 5 of Season 4 you will hear from D. Fitzduff earlier years, her involvement in conflict and post-conflict Northern Irish policy development; her tenure at the Heller School for Social Policy and interests in Neuroscience; Followership and her most recent book on Donald Trump.

Episode 5 of Season 4 is brought to you by The Rotary Peace Fellowship and the

Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence at the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University.

In this episode we discuss:

Fitzduff most formative years in the University and how she met her husband in 1969
Fitzduff and her husband two-year honeymoon travelling throughout South America, Africa and Asia
Fitzduff settled with her family in Northern Ireland in area known as the “killing fields”
The morning she found her vocation
How Dr. Fitzduff founded “Mediation Northern Ireland” while she was doing her Ph.D
When the government asked her to write a paper on how what they could do in Northern Ireland after the military and economic approach failed
The government offered to set up an organization to facilitate Conflict Resolution at every level in Northern Ireland in the 1990s “Community Relations Council”
In the 1970s she Dr. Fitzduff never heard of Conflict Resolution
How Dr. Christopher Mitchell helped Mary at the beginning of the field as she was developing her organization
How Dr. Fitz developed a training Manual “Community Conflict Skills” on group dialogue on difficult issues translated on 6 different languages
How her career blended her academic interests (behavioral change); her managerial skills (organizational psychology) and her systemic mediation work
It was only when Dr. Fitzduff was 40 that she started the Community Relations Council
How Conflict Resolution is about combining different degrees into one
How the Brandeis program got set up
A bit about the origins of the conflict terminology
The evolution of Conflict Resolution
Fitzduff key and essential skills
What employers look for when hiring
Why a Ph.D is NOT for everyone
What to do if you want to get into the Conflict Resolution
Why global southern students get jobs faster than the students from the Global North
On working domestically in Conflict Resolution
Why undergraduate degrees in Conflict Resolution are NOT very useful
On being humble about working in the field and not feeling “morally superior”
How evaluation has developed in the CR field
Is this about been a goody-goody or about a profession?
Fitzbuff next book is a text book on neuro-psychology
On the topic of Followership and entrepreneurship
Fitzduff reflection on acceptance (or not) of peace processes and stories of reconciliation and change
Fitzduff reflections on what she does to decompress and how does she prevents burn-out

Links:

Community Relations Council

Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management

Uppsala University

Mari’s latest book