Diane Bretherton's Page

What motivated you to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

I have had a life time interest in peace and conflict. In my early childhood I liked to make up plays with my aunt's peace puppets. I marched with her and other teacher's college students in the 1950 "Ban the Bomb" march.
When I began work I used my income to support the peace projects that I did in the holidays. Later in my career, my career as a psychologist and my vocation as a peacebuilder were united.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself (no more than 3 paragraphs)

I was born and completed my schooling in Melbourne, Australia.
I have studied at various universities in Australia and the United Kingdom. I began work as a teacher and psychologist in schools and then taught at a teacher's college. I became and active campaigner against giving children war toys, joined the Nuclear Disarmament Party and become increasingly interested in gender issues.
In the 1980's I worked on a film which showed the role that Vietnamese women played in the war. This opened up more opportunities to work in international settings. In 1993 my colleagues and I set up the International Conflcit Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne and I became the Director. In the years leading up to the 2000 International Year for a Culture of Peace I was seconded to UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to help with preparations for the year.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you have direct and significant expertise

Australia, Vietnam, China, France, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu

What is your current country of residence?

Australia

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

I am now retired and work as an honorary professor at the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the Univeristy of Queensland. I am also a visiting professor at the University of Nankai in China.

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://www.uq.edu.au

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise?

Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution, Gender, Education, Psychosocial

Which are your primary skills areas?

Training, Research

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

Developing a multimedia unit on conflict analysis.
Conflict resolution in China.
Community resilience in natural disasters.
Development of peace and conflict centres.

If appropriate feel free to list several of your publications

Sanson, A. and Bretherton, D. (2001) Conflict Resolution : Theoretical and practical issues. In D. Christie, R. Wagner, & D. Winter (Eds.), Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology for the 21st century. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

David Mellor and Di Bretherton. ( 2003). Reconciliation between Black and White Australia: The role of social memory. In Cairns, E and Micheal D. Roe. (Eds). The Role of Memory in Ethnic Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan. Pp 37-53.

Bretherton, D. & J.Bornstein. (2003). The qualities of peace makers: What can we learn from Nobel Peace Prize Winners about managing conflict? W.J. Pammer and J. Killian (Eds). Handbook of Conflict Management. Marcel Dekker Inc. Pp 33-49