Introduction
The Conflict Management Expert Centre is an organisation that studies
conflict in the broadest sense of the word. Conflict management and mediation
are rapidly growing fields both nationally and internationally. Professions
such as conflict manager and mediator need to be developed into mature
professions and this requires theoretical and practical research, often
of a multidisciplinary nature. The Conflict Management Expert Centre promotes
research in conflict management and in this way hopes to contribute to
the further development of the professions mentioned above.
The subjects we selected for 2004-2005 are:
We work together with both national and international organisations in
the field of conflict management. At the moment, for instance, we are
exploring the possibilities of the narrative approach to mediation in
The Netherlands. We organize workshops in this fascinating orientation
on mediation and are working on setting up a narrative mediation course
in cooperation with John Winslade, one of the founders of narrative mediation,
and with the California State University, San Bernadino.
With the German Institute SIKK (Institut für Kommunikatives Konfliktmanagement)
we exchange expertise on victim-offender mediation, a form of mediation
that yields very positive results in projects in Germany. It is interesting
to map out the possibilities of victim-offender mediation in the Netherlands.
Gathering knowledge is one thing, sharing it is another. It is our firm
belief that sharing knowledge promotes the cause of conflict management.
We advise organisations on the kind of interventions that are most suitable
to their problems and needs. We have built up a network of professionals
in different fields to whom we can refer people seeking conflict management
services. Apart from that we offer training to anyone interested in broadening
their skills in conflict management and mediation.