The Institut pour la Paix is pleased to announce that the project “Constellations for Plural Peaces” has been selected as one of the 10 laureate projects of the 3rd wave of the UPEC ERASME funding program.

The project Constellations for Plural Peaces (CpPaix) emerges in a context marked by the proliferation of armed conflicts and violence, in which hate speech and images of destruction saturate digital and public spaces. In response to this reality, the project seeks to co-construct, through a partnership between UPEC and the Institut pour la Paix (IPP), an interactive transmedia platform aimed at enriching democratic debate around the meanings and practices of peace, social coexistence, and the memories of conflicts and migratory trajectories.

This initiative aims to position UPEC, as a committed university, as a pioneering institution in the development of peace studies in France, a field that remains underdeveloped nationally but is already well established in Anglophone, Hispanophone, and German-speaking universities.The CpPaix transmedia platform will combine a digital presence, including a website and social media channels, with a physical dimension through the organization of two festivals on UPEC campuses, as well as the integration of new pedagogical practices into university curricula.

The project pursues several objectives:
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- To strengthen student engagement by actively involving students in the design of the platform;
- To offer spaces for reflection and creative production open to a wide audience, including students, staff, and local residents, through the “Festivals for Plural Peaces”;
- To contribute to the transformation of teaching practices by expanding UPEC’s educational offer in peace studies;
- To encourage participatory research on peacebuilding and the memories of conflicts, thereby contributing to the dissemination of a culture of peace (Boulding, 2000) within the university community and beyond.

Inspired by the work of Johan Galtung (1969) and Jean-Paul Lederach (1995), and building on previous research, the CpPaix project conceives peace not as a redemptive state achieved after the practice of war, but as a dynamic process of conflict transformation. This process entails a positive and plural approach to peace that recognizes the diversity of historical, geographical, and cultural contexts shaping the concept. Through the co-construction of this transmedia platform, UPEC and the Institut pour la Paix (IPP) aim to offer a counterpoint to hate speech and the pervasive violence present in public and digital spaces by fostering a deeper understanding and representation of the concept of peace. In doing so, the project seeks to combat misinformation and contribute to the construction of more just and inclusive societies.

The project “Constellations for Plural Peaces” is a laureate of the 3rd wave of the UPEC ERASME program.