The project employed the conjoint method in the study of peace processes aiming to inform stakeholders as to how to best identify comprehensive peace packages that affected citizens find acceptable. In Northern Ireland, CPIDEPS’s research on post-Brexit scenarios highlighted the trade-offs to be negotiated that could make what is unacceptable in isolation, acceptable in association with other perceived benefits. In Cyprus, the project explored power-sharing in the context of security, IDP provisions, federal courts, and territorial readjustments and has led to a novel visualization toolkit that allowed stakeholders and the general public to estimate public levels of support for packages linking concessions and incentives. Please see below for highlights of our publications, public and media engagement as well as impact.
2018
The Conversation
New Brexit poll finds a plan for the Irish border both unionists and nationalists can agree on (click here)
2019
Cyprus and Challenges in Constitutional Transitions
The three-day conference focused on international cross-learning in the area of constitutional transitions as well as new innovative tools in their study. The project’s event was co-funded by the British Academy, the US Institute of Peace and the PRIO Cyprus Centre. click here for summary report and for videos
2020
CPIDEPS’s Settlement Scenario Toolkit
RISE along with the University of Kent (Conflict Analysis Research Centre) and the University of Cyprus (Centre of Field Studies) have developed a new technology to support public consultation in multidimensional settlements. The scenario settlement toolkit builds on the 2020 article in Research and Politics entitled Citizen Preferences about Border Arrangements in Divided Societies: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment in Northern Ireland and a current bicommunal survey in Cyprus on preferences and trade-offs in the UN-held peace talks.
Research & Politics publication
Citizen Preferences about border arrangements in divided societies: Evidence from a conjoint experiment in Northern Ireland (available open access in Research & Politics here)
LSE British Politics and Policy Block
We discuss the findings of research on the opinions of the different communities of Northern Ireland about border arrangements and demonstrate that the preferences of unionist and nationalist citizens were much more convergent than was apparent at the political party elite and governmental levels during the Brexit negotiations. click here for the full article
2021
High Level Mediation Workshop
A two-day negotiation workshop (March 18-19th, 2021) aimed at enhancing professional conflict resolution standards in mediation practice. The course was delivered by CARC with the support of international experts and institutions specializing in the techniques, tools and practices to prevent and resolve conflict non-violently. Please see full program including CPIDEPS presentation here
US Institute of Peace Report
This publication reports on the use of conjoint survey experiments to produce insights into citizens’ preferences about peace settlements in post-conflict societies. We describe application to two cases: Cyprus and post-Brexit boarder arrangements in Northern Ireland probing potential applications elsewhere. The report outlines how conjoint survey experiments produce a powerful and transferable research tool to understand public opinion preferences (please contact n.loizides@kent.ac.uk for an early copy)